Life on the Blitz
by finem
Summary: RS Soracentric Sora has wanted to befriend Riku for years, but when they become teammates in High School Blitzball, Sora finds that gaining Riku’s friendship isn’t exactly simple, and life in High School can just be downright confusing…
1. Prologue: Smiles and Laughter

**Standard Disclaimer:** Not mine; no sue, I'm poor.

**Notes:** Ugh. I'm so sick right now that I can barely sit up…but I'm tired of sleeping. I've been doing that for like…3 days straight…

Anyway! Thanx 4EVA to **Tala Mitena** who beta'd this for me and gave me some very sagely advice about writing, the universe, and everything. She's an AMAZING writer and you should go read her stuff…cuz it's really cool.

This is a brain fart that turned into…something a lot more uh…corporeal. It's a story about Blitzball…but not just Blitzball. I'm not a fan of sports per se, but those crazy sports movies always draw me in somehow, so I'm aiming for that kind of feel. Things are gonna get fairly intense as we get further into the story. We'll be dealing with themes of sexual identity(like that's anything new) and some other traumatic experiences and just…see how everyone makes their way through crappy old life without being total angst-mongers. This prologue is really short, but don't be fooled. Chapter 1 is a bit gargantuan, I think…Oh, and the quote below was yoinked from a friend who keeps track of such interesting quotes and adages.(he's MoCaW at deviantART) I read it and it fit so perfectly with this section that I had to toss it in, don't expect there to always be cool quotes tho…

**Warnings:** Gratuitous use of Disney and Square characters, probably some language, at least one homosexual relationship, bigoted ass-holes, semi non-con encounters, made-up culture and language, lots of Blitzball, and general teen awkwardness. Enjoy!

-:-finem-:-

**Life on the Blitz**

"_Always try to exude an aura of happiness and confidence, even when you yourself are not happy and confident. If you appear happy and confident, people will enjoy your company, and you might end up feeling better. If you always appear sad and depressed, people will get sick and tired of you, then you'll be even MORE sad and depressed."_

_- Carlos Nogales Rule Number 1_

**Prologue:**

**Smiles and Laughter**

One of the earliest lessons I learned in life is that people don't care. Everyone is so wrapped up in their own lives and their own problems that they really can't bother to see things through the eyes of another or even recognize when the kid right in front of them is screaming for help. All of this became apparent to me as I made my confused way through my Elementary School years. I wandered through life just watching. There were so many people in so much pain, but no one else seemed to notice. Everyone was too busy feeling sorry for themselves or trying to hide.

It made me sad.

I always did my best to be there for others. I understood what the rest of the world apparently didn't, and I wanted to not be like everyone else. If someone were hurting, I would be there to listen and offer whatever support I could. If someone was crying out, I would pay attention…funny thing is, I didn't often get the opportunity. I was the quiet kid who always sat off in a corner alone, never sure how to approach others and nervous whenever anyone approached me.

I lived my life through books and television, trying to decipher the mysteries of the universe through the worlds and experiences captured in print or on screen. I was solemn, and pensive, and awkward, and nervous…and I generally didn't understand a lot of things about life. I tried, and I had a few friends who I think were having the same issues with the world that I was, but they weren't lasting friendships. They weren't the soul connection that I always read about in books, or the alwaysandforeverthrougthickandthin bonds celebrated in TV land.

I was confused. I figured that I must have been doing something wrong…or maybe there was something wrong with me…

It was some time early in Middle School that I read a line in a book that changed my life. I was sitting in Science class. We were studying health. Our teach told us to turn to Unit 7 in our text and as my eyes traveled over the information about Physical vs. Mental vs. Emotional vs. Spiritual vs. Sexual health, I noticed a soft blue box with bright colors and happy faces strewn orderly across the page. The heading read:

"_Laughter: A Universal Medicine"_

I didn't pay much attention to the class after that, instead reading through the information in the box on how laughter increased the white blood cell count in the body, and burned calories, and exercised several muscles in the body, and was contagious and…

"…_others like to be around happy people…"_

It was like a wake up call. I thought about myself then, about my nervous chuckles, my timid smiles, my gloomy attitude about the suffering of the world and its peoples. Was it any wonder that I was struggling in making friends? People liked happy people not people who brooded about all the bad things in the world. It gave me a new perspective on…everything. It gave me ideas and solutions and plans and more things for my brain to deal with at once than it had in a long time.

That was the day I learned to smile.

After that, I made it a point to smile as often as I could, no matter how I was feeling, and to always remember to laugh. Things in life were never so bad that they couldn't be eased in some way with a little bit of laughter and a friendly smile. It became my new goal in life…a new way to accomplish the goal I had set to be there for others. Maybe I couldn't always talk with them or even hear their problems, but I could smile, and I could laugh and I could hopefully bring a little bit of light into their world no matter what was weighing them down. Pretty soon it was automatic. I didn't even need to work at my smile to make it look genuine, and over time, people began to love me. I was Sora, the goof; Sora, the kid who laughs at everything; ever the optimist, always good for a smile.

That was my life. I was as happy as I could expect to be, and I took comfort in knowing that I was an element of positive in the lives of a lot of people. That was what I held onto, that knowledge. It was my anchor, my center, my purpose in life.

So it came that I made it through Middle School with several strong acquaintanceships that had high potential to become something more, and a new found confidence in my ability to interact with the rest of the human species. Today is my first day of High School. It's exciting to think about having a fresh start, being able to redefine myself, and maybe have a shot at actual happiness to fuel my smiles and laughter.

I examine my smile in the bathroom mirror after brushing me teeth, checking for any flaws. Of course there are none. Running through a checklist of things I need for the day in my head, I can't help but think about all the great things that High School has in store for me. There would be tons of new people to meet, tons of connections to make, maybe a shot at a more mature relationship, and of course…

Blitzball.

Blitzing is one of the most popular sports in all of the Destiny Islands, and Paopu High, where I'll be starting today, has the highest rate of college recruiters giving free rides on Blitzball scholarships in the nation. I've played Blitzball a lot over the years. It's one of the few things around provided for all kids to play for free, and even though the way we play it outside of official arenas is pretty different from the real game, it gives a good enough idea of how you'd fair in the tank.

I'm pretty good at it if I can trust what other people have told me. I just spent two weeks at the school's Blitzball Camp for those who wanted to try for the team, and already I stood out above most of the other kids. Try-outs would be at the end of this week, and I apparently made a good impression on the Varsity coach, which meant very good things for my chances of getting on the team.

For me, Blitzing is my one sure ticket out. All I have to do is make the team, work hard for the four years I'll be in High School, and I'll be set. I'll actually be able to go to college; my mom won't have to worry about that anymore. I'll get the education she wants me to have, make a future for myself, and maybe I'll finally manage to break the cycle of crap I've been living in for half my life. Thinking about all of the potential that waited for me with the start of this day, I feel a rush of confidence and positive energy for the up-coming year. Grabbing my bag, I give myself one more beaming smile before heading out of my lonely apartment, and for once, I think that there is actually something genuine behind it.

-:- -:- -:- -:- -:- -:- -:- -:- -:-

**Author Notes:**

And so it begins. Totally a short thing, but it introduces Sora and as he's our main character, I think this is a fairly important look into his outlook on life. So there you go! Tell me how you liked it. I know I can definitely relate to some of those feelings…not shocking since I wrote it. HA! Anyway…moving on.

**REVIEW** please:puppy-dog eyes:


	2. Ch 1: Fresh Face to the World

**Standard Disclaimer:** KH and all of its everything belong to not me and I'm not trying to get anything out of this other than some honest writing practice and the opportunity to play with all the fun thingys Disqueenix made for us to play with…because that's why I thought they made them.

**Notes:** Right. So here we go with Chapter 1. You wouldn't believe the small panic I went into to get this out. I guess I really have no confidence in myself as a writer…but that's what I'm here for right!? This is practice and fun and well…in the end I guess I really don't care. I hope someone out there gets a few kicks out of this. If that happens, then I'm happy.

**Warnings:** Gratuitous use of Disney and Square characters, probably some language, at least one homosexual relationship, bigoted ass-holes, semi non-con encounters, made-up culture and language, lots of Blitzball, and general teen awkwardness. Enjoy!

-:-finem-:-

**Life on the Blitz**

**Chapter 1: **

**Fresh Face to the World**

Flying over a vast expanse of rippling, blue ocean, you might spot a small cluster of islands many miles out from the large body of land to which they belong. Upon closer inspection, you may note that this cluster - while boasting innumerable tiny islands on which countless adventures have taken place and been dreamt up in the minds of children of all ages - it is made up primarily of six largish islands; five radiating around the sixth, which is slightly larger than the rest. If you are one with a fanciful imagination, you might see a stylized star take shape as you stare at the cluster of land below you. Of course, such a shape in nature would be purely coincidental, a fancy as whimsical as the names of the islands themselves: Caprice, Solace, Serenity, Fortuna, Infinity, and of course, the center island, the one for which the cluster is named…

_Destiny._

The Destiny Islands are one of the most popular tourist destinations in the world. People from all over turn over their meager savings or vast fortunes in order to escape for a few days or weeks into the tropical paradise that is bright and warm even when other places are buried in snow. Most tourists who come to the islands spend their time on the beach, listening as tour guides yammer on about local legends and the various oddities designed to fascinate and to relieve the weight in a visitor's wallet. They bask in the sun, and sing in the rain, but never think once about the fact that the hot vacation spot, the perfect get-away, the tropical beach blanket bonanza where everyone is a visitor and no one stays for long is also home to a great many people. Somewhere, beyond the suntan lotion and string bikinis, parents are going to work, kids are going to school, and people are living their very normal lives.

Such is the case for one rumpled teen as he sits staring out the window of an over-crowded bus. A small smile tugs at the side of his mouth as he takes in the scenery that passes by; the tall buildings covered in glass, the hapless visitors carrying bags of junk. He watches as the city fades to the lush green of the surrounding countryside, feels as the bus winds steadily upwards towards the place where he will disembark.

Paopuan National High School

Paopu High is a very special school. Located in a beautiful tropical landscape and provided with the latest technology and best facilities money can buy, it is a place that any parent would pay handsomely to allow their child to attend; however, parents didn't pay anything for their students to go to this school. The school was funded by the booming tourist industry of the islands themselves along with several private investors who were interested in principally one thing: preserving the culture of the Islands and their peoples.

When the Islands had first been discovered by the outside world, those who landed saw them only for their potential for colonization. They had ignored the nation of people who had been living on the islands for generations and gave each island a name that would appeal to the fancies of other outsiders. As the years went on, the word Paopu was known only as the name of the exotic fruit native only to the Paopu (now "Destiny") Islands. The history and culture of its native peoples were left fading into the past.

In order to prevent the complete extinction of the Paopuan culture, Paopu National High School was built. Students who attended did so for free, the only stipulation on acceptance being that the student be at least one-eighth Paopuan. With this requirement fulfilled, students gained access to all of the resources the school provided, free passage on local transit, and the opportunity to learn about their heritage in order to keep it alive.

The boy gazing peacefully out the window is one half native on his father's side and he has been looking forward to this day for a long time. Paopu High. It's the kind of place that most kids only dreamed of going to for school. His blue eyes scan ahead for the stop that he already knows is there, and as the bus pulls to a halt at the crest of a hill, he makes his way through the press of bodies surrounding him and steps out into the muggy morning air.

-:- -:- -:-

Sora smiled as he walked towards his new school. He had been at the very same place for hours over the past couple of weeks, but school had been closed for summer at the time. Aside from a few other athletic groups, the school had been completely empty, but now, it stood teeming with life. Kids were rushing from place to place, some of them wandering about in wide-eyed confusion, while others eyed the confused ones like the fresh meat they were.

"That's why it pays to be prepared." The brunette murmured to himself smugly, chestnut spikes bouncing jauntily as he stepped with confidence into the madness. Contrary to what some people liked to think, and all the evidence that Sora himself provided to prove their assumptions true, Sora was not a complete airhead. He had taken the time to figure out where his classes were before there were 1,500 other kids in the way; so while most of the Freshmen were giving themselves away with their dazed Freshmen eyes and hunched Freshmen shoulders, Sora was scanning the masses for familiar faces. Up ahead he spotted a flash of sun-kissed, golden hair that he knew could only belong to one person.

"Yo! Mihana!" he called picking up his pace to catch up with the other boy. It was a wonder Sora could get to him at all with the dense cluster of people surrounding his friend staring and whispering and giggling under their breath. Tidus Mihana was a celebrity of sorts on the island. His father, Jecht, was a local hero. One of the greatest Blitzball players the world had ever seen, Jecht had retired just that year holding the record for the most consecutive goals scored in a single game and most consecutive years being awarded MVP by the National Blitzball Association. The Mihana name was legend, and everyone was looking to Jecht's only child with great expectations to see if he would continue his father's legacy.

Sora had met Tidus back in Middle School. Aside from their shared obsession with Blitzball, the two found that there were a great many things they could agree upon, from the best way to make a sundae explode, to the exact frequency a girl's scream could reach before you knew you were _really_ in trouble. A steady friendship had begun building between them and it had only grown stronger since they started Blitz Camp together and began training for the team.

"Sora! Finally, a voice of sanity in all this madness!" Tidus greeted, latching onto his friend and dragging Sora to his side. "These people are trying to eat me alive!"

"Then why are you pulling _me_ into the feeding frenzy?" Sora said, noting with some trepidation the angry glares he was already receiving at the attention Tidus was paying him. "I think I'll just leave you to your adoring public." He made a small attempt to dislodge himself from Tidus' side and continue to his homeroom, but the stronger boy held him in place.

"Hey, where do you think you're going?" Tidus asked, resting an elbow on Sora's shoulder as he leaned in to speak to him. "I was on my way to meet up with one of my friends on the JV team. Run interference for me and you can come with." He gave a cheeky grin and a wink that told Sora that he wasn't escaping the blonde any time soon.

_Great…this should be fun…_

"You realize that half the school is gonna hate me now for trying to keep them away from you, right?" he said sighing and again eyeing the crowd nervously.

"No way! How could anyone hate those chubby, chubby cheeks." Tidus poked fingers into each of Sora's cheeks, which still held on to some remnants of his baby fat, earning a glare from his friend. "Besides," the blonde relented in his assault against Sora's cheeks, "after try-outs when you make the team, I won't be the only one fighting off adoring fans."

"Riiiight," Sora said, rolling his eyes and stumbling a little as he was shoved from behind by a faceless passer-by. "I'm already feeling the love."

It was pretty much a given that Tidus would make the school's Blitzball team. Aside from the fact that he was Jecht Mihana's son, his father and the Varsity Blitz coach were long time friends and Coach Auron had noted Tidus' talent from a young age. This was of course encouraging to Sora who, on his good days, could almost match Tidus in the pool. Sora knew that his chances for making the team were really high, but the chances of him developing a fan following…

"Whatever," Sora said turning in the mass of students and ignoring the scowls, "Just grab on and tell me where we're going." Tidus let out a small shout of triumph as he latched onto Sora's backpack.

"It's right next to the science building," he said, "The side facing the gym." Sighing in resignation, Sora purposely began shoving through the crowd, making a break in the press of bodies so that both of them could wade through relatively unmolested. After they got through the main entry way, things cleared up a bit and Tidus released Sora's bag, returning to his friend's side and giving him a gentle smack on the back of the head.

"It's a good thing you don't play defense. I swear I almost lost my shorts a couple of times back there!"

"Hey, you were the one who—" Sora found that he was talking to the air Tidus had been occupying while Tidus himself had mysteriously vanished. Turning to look ahead, Sora saw that the blonde was moving towards a tall muscular older boy with golden brown skin and red hair, who Sora had never seen before. He was taking items from his bag and placing them into the locker in front of him, and Sora assumed he was the friend Tidus had mentioned.

"Wakka! Hey, I want you to meet someone!" Tidus shouted as he semi-jogged up to the other boy. He paused, looking around confused as to why Sora wasn't by his side anymore before spotting his friend behind him. "Come on loser, what are you doing?" he said waving Sora forward. Sora just rolled his eyes, hurrying to Tidus' side again.

"Sora, this is Wakka, Captain of the JV Blitzball team." Sora blinked. His default grin plastered itself to his face as his brain tried to catch up with what had just happened. Tidus was friends with the Captain of the JV team? Since when? It began slowly dawning on him then that Tidus was probably well acquainted with several of the other players at the school. Coach Auron was a friend of his family, and Tidus himself had told Sora that he often practiced at the High School on weekends. Of course he would know people on the JV team. He was probably buddies with everyone on _both_ Blitzball teams.

Sora suddenly felt far out of his league.

_It's totally fine, _he told himself doing his best to cover his discomfort. _Just act natural. No big deal…_ Tidus just continued talking excitedly.

"Auron was begging Wakka to join the Varsity team at the end of last semester even though he's just now a sophomore, but he turned him down." He said with a snicker. "I think he just did it for the attention." Tidus returned his elbow to Sora's shoulder, resting comfortably in the easy contact. Oddly enough, the act did a lot to settle his nerves. Easy contact. That was something he'd never managed before. _One more thing to check off the list._

"_Coach_ Auron, _asked_ me if I was interested in a spot on the Varsity team last year." Wakka corrected smacking Tidus on the side of the head with each emphasized word. He spoke with a strong Islander accent "And yeah I decided against it. Would've been stupid to pass up the shot at captain, ya?"

"Ya, whatever." Tidus said mocking his friend. "You're way too modest, Wakka. Now me; I know my worth and have no shame about it. I don't know why Auron's even bothering to have me come to try-outs. The way I see it, he should just put me on the Varsity team, make me captain and get it over with."

"That so, little-boy?" Wakka straightened suddenly clearing his throat as his eyes focused past Sora and Tidus to the source of the mocking, slightly scratchy, accented female voice that had just spoken. Tidus stiffened, dropped his elbow from Sora's shoulder and spun very quickly around.

"Kida!" he squeaked, eyebrows almost vanishing into his hair as he forced a nervous, innocent grin. "You're looking lovely today." _That's an understatement_. Sora thought as he looked up in awe at the beautiful native girl. She was wearing a low-slung wrap skirt and snug fitting halter-top that nicely displayed her muscular swimmers body and ample feminine curves. Full lips were pulled down in a grim expression as she brushed a lock of snow-white hair behind her ear, glaring down with ocean blue eyes.

"Listen, _gaole._" She said stepping forward and poking Tidus in the chest with one long callused finger. "I told you before to watch your mouth. Your papa's name don't mean _futu_ to me or my team. You want to make it to V, prove yourself in the tank like everybody else, ha?" Giving one more meaningful glare, Kida walked past Tidus, a pretty girl with long red hair following after her, trying not to laugh.

"Morning Kida, Ariel," Wakka said a little bit dreamily as the two girls walked by.

"Tell your friend to learn some respect, Wakka," Kida tossed over her shoulder, "or I'll teach it to him on the Blitz, ya?"

Wakka sighed dejectedly as the girls vanished around a corner.

"Wh-who were they?" Sora asked into the awkward silence that had fallen.

"Varsity Captains," Tidus answered a little shakily. "Best Blitzers in the school. Kida's been chewing my ass out since she was JV. Thinks I don't have enough respect for the game or something."

"Gee, I wonder where she would get that idea," Wakka sarcasmed, throwing a crumpled wad of paper at Tidus' head.

"Hey! I have plenty of respect for Blitzball!" Tidus picked up the paper and threw it right back. "It's not my fault that it's in my blood to dominate the rest of you, gaholays!"

"Dude, Mihana, you're here to preserve the culture, so stop butchering the language." Yet another unfamiliar voice broke into their conversation and Sora turned to see who the new person was. He froze in his spot, default grin again pulling at his mouth as his heart began pounding in his chest and the air temperature seemed to double of a sudden.

"Can it Riku," Tidus shot out turning to face the other boy, "like your halfie ass can do any better." They greeted each other, smacking hands then knocking the back of their forearms as they continued speaking. Sora just kept smiling trying to take control of his suddenly rushing pulse.

Riku had gone to the same Middle School as Sora and Tidus. He had been one of the most popular kids at the school, but Sora had always thought there was something sad shifting behind the boy's aquamarine eyes, and it had pulled at him for years. Riku's situation was different from most on the island, and that had always set him apart from others. He was always in the spotlight wherever he went and Sora always thought that would be a difficult life to lead.

Riku's father was a well-known businessman who made healthy contributions to several of the island's cultural centers, including Paopu High. Riku and his three older brothers had been seen in countless newspaper articles accompanying their father to this event or another, and their quiet, well-mannered charm had quickly earned them the affection of the islands populace.

The family's arrival to the islands had been something of a phenomenon, sending waves of shock and excitement through the usually quiet community. The four boys and their father were like nothing the islanders had ever seen. The fathers name alone was a thing so powerful, so grandiose it seemed as though it should always be heralded by a pulsing flurry of instrumentals and sung out in screaming chorus:

_Sephiroth._

He still was largely in control of many of the major factors surrounding his advertising firm, Serifim, but he had, for reasons unknown to anyone outside of the family, packed away his fast paced life in the city and moved with his sons to the Destiny Islands. The four males had the most unusual shade of naturally silver hair that immediately identified them within a crowd. They also all possessed an almost angelic beauty. Because of this and the somewhat apt name of their father's company, Riku and his brothers, Loz, Yazoo and Kadaj were often affectionately referred to as 'Serifim's Cherubs,' but the title was more than just a pet name. It showed how the people of the islands viewed the entire family; beings separate from ordinary people meant to be ogled and talked about, but always held at arms length.

Much like Tidus, Riku was a local celebrity, and Sora had always hated the way the people of the islands treated their 'celebrities.' He had always imagined that it would be a very lonely life, never really being able to connect with others because there was no way to know who was being genuine and who was just trying to use you. The difference between the two, however, was that Tidus was local. He was still looked at with awe and respect in some circles, but he had grown up on the islands and most people treated him like family. Riku and his family had only been on the islands for about five years and it seemed like many people still didn't know what to make of them.

There had been a time when Sora had been determined to befriend Riku just to make sure that he would have at least one true friend who wasn't clinging after him for his father's influence or his angelic good looks. He had looked on with searching eyes for years, trying to figure out how to make his way into Riku's life, but that had been during the more awkward period of his development. After Riku had graduated the previous year, Sora had given up all hope of ever getting to know the older boy, but now here he stood, chatting comfortable with Tidus right in front of him…

_I didn't even know he was part native._ Sora thought, still reeling from the shock.

"Sora, you ok?"

_Crap!_ Sora blinked in confusion for a moment trying to replay the last few words of the conversation he'd missed. It wasn't surprising that he didn't manage it considering that he had…missed the conversation…

"Uh, yeah…" he said hoping his voice sounded something akin to natural. "Just thinking about practice this afternoon." He chuckled lightly earning a slight frown and raised eyebrow from Riku. "What were you saying?"

"I was trying to introduce you to Wakka's Vice-Captain. Did you know Riku back in Middle School?"

_Crap!_

Of course he hadn't known Riku in Middle School. Despite his best efforts, he'd never been able to manage it. That hadn't kept him from obsessing over him slightly though; hadn't kept him form watching him in the halls every chance he got, or eavesdropping on all the gossip that went around about him…or trailing after him into the bathroom upon occasion. But he couldn't exactly tell _Riku_ that.

"Know him? No." he stammered trying to think of something to say to catch Riku's attention. "I mean I knew him but I didn't know him in the way that your asking if I knew him 'cause I didn't really know him I just sort of knew about him and I might have stood next to him in a fire drill for a second or something once but I don't think that he knew that was me because he didn't know me even though I knew about him but I'm not sure if that counts because to know someone there has to be mutual knowing and—"

_JUST. STOP. TALKING!!!!!_ Sora screamed to himself inwardly. It seemed to have worked, as he no longer seemed to be rambling, but Sora feared the damage had already been done. Riku and Wakka both were looking at him like he had just laid a chocobo and Tidus was looking like he wasn't so sure about Sora's sanity after all.

_Well that definitely left an impression._ He thought, smiling sheepishly and wishing that he could press rewind to try that again. Before he could open his mouth to run damage control and likely make the situation worse, the warning bell rang signaling that the boys had one minute to get to their homeroom classes.

"Hey, Tidus, I'll see you 6th period, ya?" Wakka said shutting his locker and knocking arms with Tidus as Tidus and Riku had done before. "You too Sora," he said, just a hint of humor coloring his voice. Sora had no delusions that the humor was not at his expense. "Nice meetin' you," and with a final contemptuous flick of the eyes from Riku, the two captains were gone.

"Well that went well," Sora muttered slumping his shoulders miserably. So he hadn't quite mastered this whole conversing with strangers thing yet. It was on the list.

"C'mon bone-head," Tidus said with a friendly smile smacking the back of his head. "You're making us late for our first class in High School." Shrugging off the awkward encounter with Riku and the probable damage he had done to his chances of ever getting to know the other boy at all, Sora grabbed the back of Tidus' bag, pulling him backwards with a jerk before dashing forward.

"Race you there!" he called over his shoulder, then ran full speed to their homeroom across the quad, not looking back to see if his friend was keeping up.

They made it into class, bare seconds before the bell rang, but they needn't have worried. Even as they careened against the doorstop, there were still several dazed Freshmen wondering about outside trying to figure out where they were going.

"It's nice to see that you two are so energetic this morning," a sweet voice spoke from somewhere in the classroom. The two boys looked up from their small scuffle over who got to the room first to see a lovely woman, probably somewhere around mid to late twenties in age, smiling serenely at them. Her dark honey colored hair was pulled back in a spiraling braid with longish bangs that framed her face. Sora was still trying to figure out how she managed the long spiraling curls that fell in front of her ears when the woman spoke again.

"Please find a seat. We'll begin in just a moment." Tidus gave Sora a playful shove as the boys turned to face the rest of the class, spotting a familiar pair of blonde heads snickering near the back of the room.

"Great." Sora moaned in his best disgruntled voice as he and Tidus walked back to join their friends. "Surrounded by blondes. I can already feel my IQ dropping. "

"Right, like it could drop any lower. Last I checked, you can't do worse than zero." The blonde who had just spoken had hair that was slightly darker compared to the boy sitting next to him. Hayner liked to try to spike his slightly wavy hair, but usually the end result was something that vaguely resembled a constipate porcupine.

"Ha ha, very funny Hayner." Sora said dropping his bag on the desk behind his friend. "You wanna continue this conversation after school at Blitzball practice?"

"Hey, watch it," the lighter blond with more appropriately spiked hair said leaning back in his chair to eye Sora warningly. "He still owes me some cash. Kill him all you like after I get paid."

"True, friendship, Rox. I can feel it right here." Hayner replied, soundly smacking his right palm over his heart twice.

Sora had met both Hayner and Roxas during Blitzball Camp. They had been teamed up together along with Tidus and two others during practice games and the four of them had bonded almost instantly. The two blondes had been friends for a long time, apparently, and had a way of finding trouble wherever they were. Between their close friendship and their knack for mischief, they made a really good defensive pair when it came time to Blitz.

"Alright class," the teacher began. "I think we've got all of our stragglers now. I think we can begin."

As it turned out, their homeroom teacher was one Ms. Aerith Gainsborough and she would also be their English teacher for first period. There was something very motherly about the woman, and it made Sora and his friends cringe inwardly whenever she leveled warning gazes in their direction at their antics during class.

_Hayner and Roxas should never sit together in class,_ Sora decided as he watched the two. They spent the entire period trying to land spit wads on the ceiling and breaking into hysterics when they would miss and fall on some other unsuspecting student. Sora and Tidus couldn't help but join in their snickering, but it meant that all four of them fell under the disapproving parental glare of their Homeroom teacher. It was no surprise when they were asked to stay after class.

"Let me guess," she said once the other students had filtered out. She had walked to where the four of them were sitting and settled onto an empty desk arms crossed over her chest as she faced them. "You four are trying for the Blitzball team?"

"Guilty as charged!" Tidus piped in cheerfully. The stern look on Ms. Gainsborough's face softened a little and a small smile graced her features.

"Never fails." She said. "For the past 3 years, my rowdiest Freshmen are always trying for the Blitzball team. Well I'm going to tell you what I've always told them," she said getting serious again. "The kind of energy you showed in class today is exactly what will make you good Blitzball players, but please save it for the tank. I'll let your behavior pass for today, but tone it down. I don't want to have to speak with your coach before you even make the team."

Oooo…Low blow.

The boys looked at their homeroom teacher with new respect as she winked at them and turned to prepare for her next class. Whispering to each other and smiling at the new discovery, they sang out a chorus of "Yes, Ms. Gainsborough" then gathered their things and quickly exited the room laughing as Ms. Gainsborough shot them a mock glare.

"Where are you guys heading?" Sora asked the trio of blondes once they made it outside.

Hayner: "History"

Roxas: "Life Science"

Tidus: "Home Ec."

Silence…

"What? I want to learn how to cook, and I'm sick of crawling to my mom to fix the buttons when they pop off my shirts."

"Hey, we didn't say anything," Roxas said with a smile that said he was clearly thinking a lot.

"Whatever. I gotta get to Geometry over in G Building," Sora said adjusting his bag on his shoulder and checking his watch for the time.

"I'm heading that way too," Hayner said. "I'll walk with you."

"Cool." Sora replied as the blonde stepped to his side. "Hey, I have to go see my counselor at Nutrition," he told the group at large, "so I'll see you guys at the usual spot for lunch?" He got a pair of affirmatives from his retreating friends and a smack on the shoulder from Hayner who was turning to walk away. He returned the gesture as they headed out into the growing heat of the day and brought up the topic of their practice with the JV team at the end of the day.

Things were good, Sora decided. He wouldn't worry about his minor set back with Riku that morning or how completely minuscule he felt in comparison to Tidus and his older friends. He could worry about those things later, for now, he was just going to do his best to enjoy the first day of his new life.

One class down, four to go.

-:- -:- -:-

By the end of second period, Sora was sure that he was going to love High School. His Geometry teacher, one Mr. Anthony "Tony" Xigbar seemed really cool. After handing out and going over the syllabus and lesson plan for the semester, he proceeded to show various uses of geometry in real life including the importance of angles in one of the most well known moves in Blitzball, the "Jecht Shot' which was coined and created by Tidus' father.

"If you guys progress fast enough, we might get out to do some real world demonstrations of geometry," Mr. Xigbar told them, "so you'd all better study hard. I won't go easy on you." With these closing words of promise and a somewhat sinister laugh, the bell rang signaling the end of 2nd period and the start of their fifteen-minute Nutrition period. Most students hurried to grab a quick snack before their next class and others just relaxed with friends, but Sora did neither of these things. Shuffling through the other students as they wandered past him, Sora strode across the grass of the central quad area to get to the main office. Walking down a hallway and turning to walk through a pair of glass doors with 'Counseling Office' etched into them, Sora stepped up to the receptionist desk not quite sure what he was supposed to do.

"Um…I have an appointment with Mr. Leonhart," he told the young bespectacled man behind the desk feeling just a touch bit awkward, but the teen, whose nametag read "Milo," gave him a friendly smile and asked him to take a seat while he let "Leon" know he was there.

Almost immediately, a side door swung open and a tall man who looked to be in his late twenties leaned out the doorway, eyeing Sora expectantly. Feeling his face flush for reasons he didn't understand, Sora grabbed his bag and walked past his guidance counselor into the older man's small office.

Sora sat down in a comfortable cushioned chair that was situated in front of a small metal desk and examined the back of the LCD monitor in front of him while Mr. Leonhart walked back around the desk and examined a file.

"How's your first day been?" He asked, not looking up at his charge.

"Ok, I guess." Sora replied looking away from the monitor as he was spoken to. "Homeroom and English were a little boring, but my Geometry class seems pretty cool."

"Good," the older man said running a hand through chin length brown locks as he closed the file he had been reading and looked up at Sora again with expectant, blue-gray eyes. Sora fidgeted in his chair even more. He had the distinct feeling that he knew what this meeting was about, and he wasn't particularly looking forward to it.

_Maybe he won't say anything if I don't bring it up,_ he hoped inwardly.

"The paperwork was finalized this weekend, right?"

_Then again maybe not._

"Yeah," Sora replied staring down at his fingernails. How did they always manage to get so dirty anyway?

"How'd that go?" Sora shrugged picking the dirt from under his thumbnail with the nail of his index finger.

"No big deal really," he said sighing and offing a wry smile that he hopped his counselor would believe meant he was speaking honestly. "Now I get to sign for myself on progress reports and stuff right? It's kinda cool." The corner of the other man's mouth quirked in a small grin and he shook his head a little leaning back in his chair.

_That's right. Good old silly Sora. Nothing to worry about here…_

Sora's smile became a lot more genuine as he seemed to have offered a little humor in Mr. Leonhart's day. He was another person that Sora thought could use more smiles in his life. Sora had only met his counselor once before, during Freshman Orientation. He had been extremely intimidated by the man at first, barely saying two words to him as they put Sora's schedule for the year together. Sora had fully intended to avoid the man as much as possible for the rest of the year, but then he got to thinking. There had to be a reason why Mr. Leonhart had chosen to become a High School guidance counselor, and that alone was reason enough for Sora to try to relax a bit more around the man.

He decided that it was much easier to do so when Mr. Leonhart offered that small quirk of a smile.

"Alright, Sora, I'm gonna get straight to the point." _Right. Back to reality…_ "You're not the first emancipated minor this school has ever had. Your situation is not common, but we do have some idea of what to expect and the school wants to make sure you're receiving whatever support you may need."

Great. The last thing he needed was for the entire school administration to throw him a pity party.

"Look, Mr. Leonhart," Sora said gusting another sigh, "I know this is all pretty weird, but I'm really ok. My Aunt made sure to take care of almost everything before she left, so there's really nothing to worry about."

"That may be so, but I just want to make sure." He leaned forward in his chair again, grabbing his mouse and clicking a few times before typing something on a keyboard that was concealed on a sliding tray built into the desk.

"I want you to come see me on the first Monday of every month during Nutrition," he said as he finished typing. "Just to touch bases and make sure everything is going alright. Your teachers will be keeping me informed of your progress in class, so no, you won't be signing your own Progress Reports. If you ever need anything or just want to talk, my door is always open. Unless you're planning to kill yourself or do something illegal, everything you tell me stays between us."

Sora's eyes had drifted back to staring at the back of the computer monitor as he tried to ignore the pounding of his heart and the slight pressure building behind his eyes. He was not going to cry. He'd sworn off tears around the same time he learned to smile and he'd be damned if he'd start weeping like some baby in the middle of the Counseling Office. So all of his teachers knew about his sob story. They probably talked about him in the teacher's lounge, clicking their tongues and shaking their heads for the poor kid with the crazy mom who lives alone now because he has no where else to go. Well Sora didn't want or need their pity. He was _fine _dammit!…but breaking down in front of Mr. Leonhart was not going to prove that to anyone.

"Sora?" A deep tenor broke into Sora's thoughts and he realized that the room had been silent for some minutes. Falling back on evasion that had become habitual at this point, Sora gave an abashed chuckle and scratched at the back of his head.

"Sorry, spaced out for a second there," he said with a winning smile.

"Did you understand everything that I said?" Mr. Leonhart asked.

"Totally, and I'll definitely think about it," Sora told him, toning down the wattage on his smile to make it look more authentic.

"Alright then, that's it." The taller man stood to see Sora out of the office. "And hey, call me Leon ok? 'Mr. Leonhart' makes me feel like I'm 80."

"Alright, thanks Leon," Sora said, then turned to walk away. He looked up in surprise to find that a familiar face had replaced Milo while he'd been in his meeting. Her skin was the color of caramelized sugar, her thick black hair fell to just beyond her hips, and her nametag read "Jasmine."

"Hey," he said walking over to the receptionist desk. "You work here?" Jasmine was one of the people he had met during Blitz Camp. Camp had started with twenty potentials, but half of them had dropped out before it was halfway done. There were four Freshmen and six Sophomores left trying for the team and Jasmine was one of the Sophomores.

"Yep," she answered with a sweet smile, "Career Development. It's an elective. We get credit for working in the office for one period a day and work experience to boot!"

"Cool," Sora said awkwardly because he didn't really know what else to say. He stood there for another moment in uncomfortable silence before backing towards the door. "Guess I'll see you at practice after school," he told her then turned to hurry down the hall. He heard a distracted 'ok' float from behind him as he made his way out of the building and stepped back outside just in time for the bell to ring signaling the end of Nutrition.

Great. He'd been hoping to grab a snack before he had to go to class. Now he'd have to wait until lunch and he knew that his stomach was not going to be happy with that considering how he never ate breakfast in the morning. On cue, his stomach gave a painful stab and Sora grimaced, doing his level best not to pout.

"Quiet you," he mumbled to the protesting organ then trudged towards the Science building for his 3rd period class.

-:- -:- -:-

Time had stopped. That was the only logical explanation. There was no other way to account for why the clock on the wall read 11:50 when clearly they had been stuck in 4th period for at lease half a year. Sora was ready to claw his ears off as Mr. Xehanort, his Paopuan History teacher droned on and on about the noble tradition they would be carrying on their shoulders, taking into themselves and awakening for all to behold. The power inherent in self-comprehension and the importance of culture and heritage to…

Sora had tuned out completely right around there.

History was better than Science at least. Professor Vexen was just plain creepy. The entire class had sat in silence trying to avoid calling the attention of his icy gaze, certain that if they made a sound, they would end up as the professor's next experiment. Clearly, the guy was nuts. To make matters worse, Sora's empty stomach had made it very difficult for him to concentrate or stay focused on anything for any useful length of time. He barely survived to the end of his Life Science class, so going to History afterward, with his teacher's extended dramatic monologue was torture of the most refined variety.

Now, with lunch and its promise of flavored juice beverages and processed meat products lingering so close, time apparently had stopped completely, mocking Sora and his stomach, which was at the moment working on digesting his spleen for nutrients. Watching desperately as the last seconds of class ticked away, Sora almost fell out of his chair trying to escape when the clock struck 12 and the bell finally rang.

_About freakin' time!_

Smiling slightly at the unintended pun, Sora didn't pay much attention to his surroundings as he set off in a hurry determined to get to the lunch lines before they got too long. Being thus distracted, it wasn't until he collided with a firm body that he realized that he did indeed need to actually watch where he was going.

"Watch where you're going, freak!" a voice instructed him in case he hadn't quite caught the lesson. Sora looked up at the person with whom he'd collided, aiming for sheepish with the smile he plastered on his face.

"Sorry—" Anything else he was going to say stilled in his throat as he noticed the cool aqua eyes glaring at him framed by a mane of silver hair. "Oh. Riku," he said heart suddenly pounding as it had before. "I didn't see you." The older teen just rolled his eyes and stepped around Sora to continue on his way.

"Great. That's two strikes against me now," he muttered to himself fighting with indecision. He could just keep moving and get food, or he could follow Riku and try to prove that he wasn't a complete loser.

Food. Riku. Food. Riku…

Resigning himself to a slightly prolonged period of starvation, Sora pushed his way through the milling crowd of teenagers to follow after the easily distinguishable silver head of hair.

"Hey, Riku!" he called lightly as he came up beside the other boy. "Wait up!"

"What? Are you stalking me now?" Riku rounded on him angrily and Sora stopped short stuttering over the words he'd been planning to say.

"N-no. I uh…I was just—" Riku held up a finger effectively silencing him.

"Let's get one thing straight," he said in a voice that could freeze molten lava. "Tidus is cool, but don't think that because you're his friend, you're automatically mine. The last thing I need is one of his groupies following me around too, so do us both a favor and just stay away from me." He didn't even bother with a parting glare as he walked away, leaving a stunned Sora to stare after his retreating back.

Noticing the other students who had been watching the little drama as it played out, and who were still standing around whispering and pointing at him, Sora broke into nervous chuckles, slapping on his goofiest grin as he tried very hard to recover from the encounter. That had hurt.

_Guess that was strike three,_ he thought to himself trying to laugh it off. Riku wanted nothing to do with him. It had been dumb to think that someone like Riku, one of the great 'Cherubs' of Serifim Corp., would want anything to do with someone like Sora.

"I'm just the local charity case," he muttered to himself giving in to a moment of bitterness. "He and I probably don't even breath the same kind of air."

He indulged in a bit of brooding then as he wandered towards the cafeteria area. It wasn't like anyone would notice or care anyway. When he made it to the place where students were purchasing food, he was caught rather flatfooted by the fact that he'd never done this before. During Blitz Camp the Food court had been closed so everyone brought their lunches, but now, with all the different choices of foods to purchase Sora found himself at a bit of a loss. That combined with the melancholy he felt from his encounter with Riku, and the fact that he was absolutely starving, just made Sora want to lay down somewhere and shut out the world for a while…and have someone prepare him a five course meal…

"Sora! Hey Sora!" He knew that voice. There was only one person he knew of who could achieve that level of high pitched peppy without earning a fist to the face.

"Selphie," he said forcing a smile as a girl in a bright yellow sun-dress came barreling into his chest and wrapped her arms around him. He awkwardly patted her on the back in an attempt to return the gesture and looked past her shoulder to see one of his other friends from Middle School standing back a little, a blonde girl that he had never met before standing at her side.

"Hey Kairi," his smile was becoming less and less brittle at the presence of his friends and he found that he was actually starting to feel a little better with them there.

"Oh my gosh! You've gotten so HOT!" Selphie squealed, and Sora felt his face immediately flush. "You got taller and I didn't even recognize your voice! You've been working out too haven't you and—"

Sora sent a pleading look to Kairi as Selphie continued cataloging the changes that apparently made him so much "hotter," and thankfully, Kairi took pity on him.

"Alright Selphie," she said putting a hand on the other girl's shoulder. "If Sora's face gets any warmer he's gonna set the school on fire."

"Right, Kairi," Selphie rolled her eyes with a giggle, but backed off as instructed, "You're trying to play it cool, but I know that you're just secretly plotting to keep him to yourself!"

"Whatever you say, Selphie," Kairi said stepping forward to offer Sora a small hug of her own. "She's not wrong you know." She said stepping away and Sora raised his eyebrows in embarrassed surprise.

"Don't tell me you really do just want to keep me all to yourself?" he said earning a giggle from Kairi.

"No silly. But you have changed. Been playing Blitzball all summer haven't you."

"How'd you guess?" he grinned widely for her as she poked him in the arms and stomach.

"You've lost almost all of that adorable baby fat, that's how." She said and Sora felt his face flushing but this time, not unpleasantly. For some reason, when Selphie showed him this kind of attention, it made him want to bury his head in the sand somewhere and hide until she was gone, that was likely due to the way Selphie would shamelessly flirt with almost anyone who happened into her circle of friends. Kairi was different. She wasn't as hyper as Selphie, and was always honest with the things she said. Having her call him adorable, even if it was talking about his chub, sent something warm and pleasant through Sora's heart, banishing the last of his gloomy mood.

"So what are you guys going to eat for lunch," he asked them. "You wanna come sit with me and Tidus and our other friends?"

"Tidus?!" Selphie piped, "Duh, we're coming. He's probably gotten even hotter than you! Can Naminé come with?" she asked pulling the blonde girl Sora had noticed before forward. "She's in the same homeroom as me and Kairi but doesn't really know anyone around here. Sora's gonna be a huge Blitzball star, and Ohmygosh wait 'till you meet Tidus," Selphie was now talking excitedly to the blonde girl and Sora just scratched his head feeling awkward again.

"Hi, I'm Sora," he said stretching out a hand to greet the other girl.

"Naminé," she replied shyly.

"You're totally welcome to eat with us," he said offering his best 'I'm harmless and friendly' smile, "but we should probably figure out what we want before everything is gone." This he addressed to Kairi and Selphie as well.

"Then let us go forth and find food!" Selphie declared dramatically, pointing toward the food court with her right hand, left hand placed firmly at her hip.

"Whatever, just go," Sora muttered shaking his head and walking into the crowd. Kairi and Naminé giggled and followed after him, Selphie happily skipping at their side singing "So-ra's a hottie! So-ra's a hottie!" to Sora's great mortification. It was good to have friends, but sometimes Sora wondered about his choice in them.

-:- -:- -:-

2 Chicken Cesar Salads, 1 fish and chips basket, 1 turkey burger and fries basket, and 4 beverages later, the four teenagers found themselves wandering in the general direction of the gym as Sora led the way. Their destination was one of the many large tropical trees that dotted the campus and surrounding area, a place that the various participants who went to Blitzball Camp had frequented during the previous two weeks.

Blitz Camp had been an all day affair. They began practice at 9 in the morning and finished at 3 in the afternoon, and the tree that Sora led the girls to was the place where the ten remaining Blitzers in Camp had taken to sitting while they ate their lunches. The tree was an ideal eating spot with its large roots and hanging vines offering places to sit as well as shade from the mid-day sun. Sora was actually surprised that no one had already claimed it, though on further consideration, he realized that having Tidus claim the space probably went a long way in silencing any protesters.

Tidus, Hayner and Roxas were there, along with several other people that Sora didn't know. Tidus was the first to spot him as he approached and elbowed Roxas who elbowed Hayner resulting in all three of his friends snickering and whispering to each other at his expense.

"Sora, you dog!" Tidus called a leery grin on his face. "Here we're thinkin' you got lost in the food court but it turns out you were catching some—"

"If you value your life you won't finish that sentence, Mihana." Kairi said shooting Tidus a glare as she settled on the grass with her salad.

"Fish." Tidus said meeting her glare with his most innocent pout. "I was gonna say catching some fish. He's eating fish right? Why would you kill me over fish?" Kairi's glare crumbled into the grin she had been suppressing and she hopped up to drop a quick peck on the blonde's cheek.

"Good to see you too, Tidus." She said, settling back on the grass next to Naminé.

"Tidus!" Selphie squealed throwing her arms around the boy having waited her turn.

"Hey, watch it!" he cried, "You're crushing my pizza!"

"Who cares about your stupid pizza? I haven't seen you in almost two months! Are you saying you like pizza better than me?"

Grateful that Selphie's attention was fully on Tidus now, Sora turned to his other friends settling on a root that was that was closer to the ground and leaning his back against the taller root where Tidus was sitting. He knew that he should probably do introductions, but his stomach would have nothing of it. Besides, he knew that Hayner and Roxas weren't the shy and quiet types. They could manage introductions on their own.

"So are you Sora's girlfriend? Ever seen him naked?" Hayner asked and Sora choked on a piece of potato. Hayner and Roxas both seemed to find this very hilarious…maybe leaving introductions to them hadn't been the best idea after all.

"Grow up you guys," said a pretty girl with brown hair that was cut so that the top half flipped lightly and the bottom half fell just past her shoulders. She shot a glare at Hayner and smacked Roxas' arm, as he was the one closest to her.

"Hey! I didn't even do anything!" he complained, but the girl ignored his complaints and leaned forward to speak across Roxas and Hayner both and catch Sora's attention.

"Hey, I'm Olette!" she said with a warm smile. "I take it you must be Sora." Sora gave a distracted nod as he focused on shoving a piece of fried fish into his mouth. "Nimph nu mun muu." He told her through a mouthful, and Kairi just rolled her eyes at him turning to Olette.

"Why are boys idiots?" she asked and the females present giggled while the males all made affronted sounds. "I'm Kairi, this is Naminé and the one who has Tidus in a headlock right now is Selphie."

"Oh, we already know Naminé. We all—" Olette was interrupted as Selphie, upon hearing her name, released her captive to bounce over to where Kairi and Naminé were sitting.

"Hi! Who are you?!" She chirped, and Olette giggled into her hand. Sora tuned out, focusing again on filling his stomach as introductions went around. Olette and Pence, were the main two he hadn't known. They had apparently gone to Middle School with Hayner, Roxas, and Naminé who to Sora's mild surprise turned out to be Roxas' twin sister. There were others floating around stopping by to say hello to Tidus mainly, but Sora didn't pay much attention to them. Filling his disgruntled stomach was top priority. Sora was in the middle of a contented gulp of his Paradise Punch when Tidus leaned over to look down at him and casually said:

"So I hear Riku totally blew you off today." For the second time in the past 10 minutes, Sora found a foreign substance trying to make its way into his lungs. This time, some of it escaped from his nose. Coughing and sputtering into his napkin, Sora looked up at Tidus, a sense of dread growing in his chest.

"How did you know about that?" he managed after sufficiently clearing his air passage.

"Believe it or not, you're quite the talk of the school," Tidus told him leaning casually against the trunk of the tree. "Between you shoving people away from me this morning and then your scene with Riku, is it any wonder?"

Sora felt all blood drain from his face. He looked to the other people sitting around him and notice that they were all carefully looking at anything but him.

"Is it true?" he squeaked looking to Kairi and Selphie who were to ones in the group he'd known longest and trusted most.

"Well…we might have heard one or two people saying something in the halls." Kairi offered more than a little hesitantly. Sora couldn't believe this was happening. He knew that the rumor mill was bad, especially in High School, but he'd never expected to be a part of it.

"Well what are they saying?" he asked. Maybe it wasn't too bad. He'd only been there for a day, so really, how bad could the rumors be?

"From what I've heard," Selphie interjected, "a lot of people think that you're just a brown-nosing fanboy who's trying to get attention by latching onto the popular kids." Sora smacked a hand across his forehead and threw his head back against root behind him, connecting with the bottom of Tidus' thigh in the process.

"Aw man!" he whined closing his eyes. This was the last thing he needed. First his teachers, now everyone else thought that he was a major loser too. "I can't believe this."

"Hey," Tidus said tapping his head, "Don't stress it." Sora opened his eyes and glared up at his friend.

"It's the first day of school and I'm already branded as public douche-bag number one."

"Oh, it's not that bad." Tidus laughed giving his head a little nudge with his thigh. "I have to deal with this kind of shit all the time," he said, "The fact that people are even bothering to notice at all is probably a good thing."

"Yeah!" Selphie piped in again, "And a lot of people think you're really hot too!" Sora just groaned at this.

"Hey c'mon." Roxas interjected then. "You're going out for Blitz, you were gonna have to deal with this sooner or later."

"Yeah," Hayner added "This actually means you're a step ahead of the rest of us. People already know your name now."

Sora just shook his head as his friends tried to offer him all the reasons why he shouldn't worry about the rumors spreading about him, but the more they spoke, the worse he felt. This was definitely not the way he had intended his first day of High School to go.

-:- -:- -:-

Conversation had finally turned to subjects other than Sora by the time the bell rang ending lunch. As it turned out, Roxas' mysterious twin, Naminé, was in his fifth period Art class and they ended up walking together.

"Sorry if we freaked you out at lunch," he told her as they headed through the crowd of students. He was now looking at them with new eyes because of what he had learned at lunch. How many of them were, even now, whispering about him? "I noticed you didn't say a lot," he said distractedly.

"No, I'm used to it. Hayner and Roxas are always goofing off like that," she told him with an amused smile. "I'm not as out-going as my brother so I don't have many friends. It's always nice to be around others who get along like you guys do."

"Riiight," Sora said, still overly aware of the students around him. He felt like there were a million eyes boring into his skull. Apparently his discomfort didn't go unnoticed.

"You shouldn't worry about them," Naminé told him, and Sora looked at her, lifting an eyebrow in question. "The rumors, I mean. These people and what they think…none of it really matters, right? What's important is that you have friends who don't care about what other people say, so try not to worry too much about rumors. You have better things to do with your time, right?" With a final, almost timid smile, Naminé opened the door to their classroom and stepped inside.

_She's right,_ Sora thought. Why should he care what bored teenagers said about him behind his back? They didn't even know him, so what could they actually know about who he was? Let them think what they wanted. Tidus was his friend, and he wasn't going to let a bunch of stupid rumors change who he chose to hang-out with.

As for Riku…well… He'd just do as Riku said and leave the older boy alone. That of course wouldn't exactly be easy if he made the JV Blitz team, but Sora figured that he could at least make an effort to prove that he wasn't a creepy stalker trying to get into Riku's good graces.

Feeling a bit better about the whole situation, Sora settled in the seat next to Naminé to wait for class to begin. Rumors and Riku and everything else that was trying to ruin his first day could wait. He just didn't want to think about any of it anymore.

Of course, as was the theme of the day, things took an unexpected turn, completely disregarding Sora's wishes.

Sora glanced up from friendly conversation with Naminé when the room's door opened thinking that their teacher had arrived, but the figure who stepped through the door, saying good-bye to friends with a cocky smirk pulling at his lips, was definitely not their teacher. Nope. Definitely not.

Sora could have sworn he heard the voice of fate snickering at him as Riku stepped into the room, pausing only for a moment when he noticed Sora sitting in the arc of desks then proceeding to sit next to a boy with long spiky red hair, ignoring Sora completely. Sora felt a little pang in his chest at this but tried to ignore it. He offered an awkward smile as he turned back to Naminé and he found that she was looking at him with a small sympathetic smile.

_Great. Now even she's starting to feel sorry for me,_ he thought dropping his head into his palms. This day really was starting to be not good.

-:- -:- -:-

Art finished without incident. Sora's eyes discretely drifted to Riku a couple of times, but each time, the other boy was never looking in his direction and Sora eventually gave it up. He staunchly ignored Riku's presence for the rest of the class. After the usual drill of going over the syllabus and lesson plan and list of supplies needed, their teacher, Mrs. Smith, showed a few slides of some of her previous students' work and then, as the bell rang, left them with the inspirational message:

"With a little hard work and determination, you too will be able to paint with all the colors of the wind." Sora raised an eyebrow at this, collecting his things and turning to Naminé.

"That is quite possibly the corniest closing line I've ever heard," he told her and she giggled into her hand as they exited the class together. The humidity slammed into them like a wall as they left the air-conditioned comfort of the building. It was normal weather for late summer on their tropical island, but it still made Sora even more anxious to get to his final class of the day.

"Hey, it was cool talking to you Naminé," he said backing away from the blonde. "I'll see you tomorrow ok?"

"Bye Sora!" She waved him off and Sora turned to hurry on to the gym. _Finally. _ 6th period was P.E. and for Sora, that meant…

Blitzball.

At the beginning of the day, he had been counting the classes until he got to Blitzball practice, but as the day had taken its rather…unexpected turns, a fair amount of anxiety had mixed in with his anticipation. Now, as he caught sight of some of his other friends from Blitz Camp heading toward the gym, he felt the anxiety melting away. It would be just like Camp again, practicing together, forgoing the heat of the outside for the regulated temperatures of the indoor pool and generally shutting out the rest of the world as they focused on training. This was the last week that they would all be together, and Sora planned to enjoy it to his fullest.

"Yo! Thompson, Kisaragi!" he called out and both Hayner and the short brunette girl he was walking with, Yuffie, paused to wait while he caught up. Or so Sora thought. Only after he felt the weight of another body pouncing onto his back did he realize that they were actually just waiting for a bit of pre-practice entertainment.

"Getty-up oh great ass-kisser!" Roxas called from his back. Sora rolled his eyes and straightened, managing to dislodge the other boy in the process. Roxas landed on his feet laughing and stepped to Sora's side, good-naturedly smacking his shoulder.

"Not funny, Capiz," Sora told the blonde. He had been aiming for an irritated glare, but only managed a slightly put-upon pout, which seemed to earn him more laughter from Roxas, Hayner, and even Yuffie. Sora's pout deepened at this. The older girl was usually on his side when these two plotted against him, but apparently that wasn't the case today.

"You should have seen the look on you face!" she gasped out, pointing at him and holding her sides. Sora rolled his eyes.

"Whatever, you guys," he said, smacking Roxas on the back of the head as he continued towards the gym. "Laugh it up all you want. I, on the other hand, am gonna go get suited up, so you can explain it to Coach when the three of you are late." This sobered the others quickly as they all knew that being late to practice without a very good excuse could jeopardize their shot at the team. They walked the rest of the way to the gym together, laughing and joking and generally enjoying each other's company.

"I'll see you guys pool side," Yuffie said waving to them as she turned into the girl's locker room, and Sora, Hayner and Roxas headed into their locker room to get into their practice wet suits.

"Hey, how come you never told me you have a twin?" Sora asked elbowing Roxas in the ribs. "She's really nice."

"Never came up," Roxas replied, returning the elbow. "And that's my kid sister you're talking about so don't get any ideas."

"What? You think I'm not good enough for your sister? And I thought you were twins," Sora said attacking with renewed vigor at his friend's torso, his elbow a might weapon to be feared.

"I'm 6 minutes older, so that earns me big brother rights!" Roxas returned. Hayner rolled his eyes and continued on ignoring his friends as they continued to mock fight.

During the scuffle, Sora caught a glimpse of Riku laughing with some older kids down a lane of lockers but kept moving, holding on to his resolve to ignore the other boy's presence. He'd have no choice but to work with Riku in practice, but he'd deal with that when the time came.

Tidus was already at his locker changing when the three boys arrived, Sora and Roxas gasping and smiling as they rubbed at sore sides. He shot them all a winning smile as they moved to their assigned spaces.

"Hey," he said in greeting, "I just talked to Auron, looks like we're actually gonna get to go in the Tank on Wednesday." Sora gave a broad grin at this as Hayner and Roxas slapped hands with a tandem "Excellent!"

"Seriously?" he asked, "even before we make the team?"

"Yeah, part of try-outs are gonna be in there so they want to make sure that we're all used to the suits and everything before Saturday." Sora's grin got a little broader with this as he spun in his locker combination and began to get undressed.

Because it was played entirely underwater, Blitzball wasn't a game that could really be played without a lot of special equipment. The version that most kids played involved passes that happened in open air while goals alone were made underwater. The official sport was played in a large pool made of thick Plexiglas, with seats situated around the outside of the pool so that people could observe the game. The water in the pool was maintained at a high concentration of dissolved oxygen and players wore special wetsuits that acted sort of like gills to filter the oxygen out of the water and up into face masks so that the players could breath. All in all, it was very similar to a giant fish tank, and so, was usually referred to as the Blitzball "Tank."

The only time that people had the chance to experience Blitz in its true form was through special Blitz Camps that were usually extremely expensive, or through High School Blitzball, which was extremely demanding. Just thinking about what they had coming up on Wednesday filled Sora with a pleasant combination of "oh God," and "hell yeah!" Few people in the world got this kind of opportunity.

He grinned at familiar faces as he, Tidus, Hayner, and Roxas made their way into the meeting room that bordered their practice pool and sat on a bench with the other kids from Blitz Camp as they waited for their Coaches to come in.

They didn't wait for long. After a few minutes, a tall, muscular man with graying black hair and a scar running through his right eye, starting from his forehead and ending at his cheek, stepped into the room. Sora couldn't help but smile a little at seeing Coach Auron. He had played a fair amount of Blitz in his day and he really knew what he was talking about when it came to training them all in the game. He was coach of the Varsity team, but he had been their main coach for all of Blitz Camp. Sora was sad that he wouldn't be working under Coach Auron anymore, but it just gave him more motivation to work harder to get onto the Varsity team later.

The other man who walked into the room was a new face. He was muscular as well, but where coach Auron's build was strong but lean, the other man was thick and broad. His neatly cut brown hair was graying at the sides, and his equally neat mustache was a pencil thin line over his lips. His dark eyes scrutinized everyone in the room as he looked down his hawk-like nose at them. He was definitely not who they all had been expecting.

"Hey!" One of the sophomore girls, a tall willowy thing named Meg, spoke up voicing the question on everyone's mind. "Where's Cloud?"

"Coach Strife has returned to his duties with the swim team," Auron told them without preamble, "As soon as the current JV team gets here, I'll be introducing you all to the new JV coach." Without realizing it, Sora's face had fallen into a sullen pout. His wasn't the only one. Cloud had been assistant Coach for them all through Blitz Camp. He wasn't as seasoned as Auron, but was an amazing swimmer and really nice person. They had all been told at the beginning of Camp that there would be a new JV coach that year and that they would not be working with Coach Auron once school began, but they had all been hoping that Cloud would be the new coach. Apparently, he wasn't.

Sora looked back at the door that led into the room as he heard voices, and he froze, staring entranced as the JV team made their entrance. They all walked in clad in their clean, uniform practice suits, smiling and talking quietly amongst each other. They seemed almost unreal to Sora as he looked down at his own fading, borrowed suit and scrawny build. If he made the team, would he ever manage to gain the strong physique that the JV guys had? He wasn't so sure…

"Alright," as Coach Auron began to speak the room instantly fell silent, everyone wanting to hear about the new coach. "Now that everyone's here, I'd like to introduce you all to Coach James Clayton. Coach Clayton has worked with the Fortuna High School Hunters for the past 5 years and recently moved to Destiny. He will be taking over Coach Letty's duties as of today so don't embarrass yourselves. Let's show Coach Clayton what being a Blade is all about."

"Yes sir!" the JV team called as if on cue, and Sora was glad to see that he wasn't the only one startled by the sudden noise.

"For this week, up until try-outs, I'll be working with you while my Captains take care of the Varsity Team, but as soon as selections are over, I'll be turning things over to Coach Clayton exclusively. Coach, would you like to say a few words?"

"Thank, you Coach Auron," Clayton spoke with a rich accent that was from one of the mainlands far west of where they were, and as he addressed the group, he again looked down his hooked nose as if evaluating every person in the room to see if they met his exacting standards. "I've heard many good things about this school and it's Blitzball teams," he began in a neutral tone, slowly walking across the front of the group. "I myself have played a fair amount of the sport over the years, and I believe I know what to look for in competent players." At this point he stopped, standing at what would be center stage were they in a theatre, and he looked to the group with a suddenly intense, penetrating gaze. "I'm confident that all of you will work your hardest in our time together, and I guarantee you that I will work you hard. You all have a legacy to continue, and as long as you are willing to acknowledge and accept that responsibility, I will do my best to help you meet it." He paused a moment allowing his gaze to fall on each of their faces and his words to sink into their minds. Then, with a smile that was almost predatory and a slight bow, he told them, "I look forward to working with all of you this year," and stepped back to give the floor over to Coach Auron again.

"Alright, we're gonna go over this week's practice schedule," Auron began, flipping through a few pages on a clipboard. As Sora listened to what they would be doing for warm ups and how practice would proceed, his mind drifted back to Coach Clayton and his speech. The words had been inspiring. Clayton seemed like a strict kind of guy, but Sora thought that he'd probably make a good coach. He didn't come off as very approachable, but Sora figured that it was probably because it was the first day and he wanted to make a strong impression.

_Well that's fine,_ Sora thought. _It'll probably be really cool to get to know him…help him loosen up a little._

"Alright then," Sora's mind jumped back to what was being said about their practice for the day. "If you haven't met them already, and I'm sure most of you didn't bother, meet this year's guppies." Auron was speaking to the JV team, and he waved a hand indicating the row of ten new faces, who all were hoping to make the team.

"For the rest of the week, each guppy will be partnered with a veteran to help them understand how things work around here. Camp is over kids," Auron was now speaking directly to the "guppies" with serious eyes. "You made it this far, but we've only got six spots open, so four of you will be leaving us at the end of the week. Work hard, show us what you're made of, and good luck." With that he looked back down at his clipboard and spoke to Coach Clayton over his shoulder.

"Coach, if you would do the honors." Nodding his head and examining his own clipboard, coach Clayton stepped forward to speak.

"We will now pair you off for the week." Sora's heart began pounding in his chest yet again. He was like to have a heart attack with all the stress he was putting his heart through that day, but he couldn't help it. New kids were getting paired with the current team members…what if…what if he got paired with Riku.

Sora wasn't sure how he felt about that. Part of him would love it if they were forced into working together. Then, Riku would have no choice but to talk to him and get to know him some.

_Maybe then he'd stop looking at me like week-old road kill._

But then what if he didn't. What if Riku refused to even try to work with him? He'd be left totally unprepared for try-outs, wouldn't make the team and then he'd be completely screwed. Sora was still lost in his own thoughts even as Coach Clayton read off the pairs.

"Mihana, Tidus. You'll be with Pelekai, Wakka." Wakka, as Captain was first. That meant that Riku was probably next. Sora did his best to school his features as he waited for the next name to come….

"Albhed, Rikku. You're with…" a small snicker, "Anakhuli, Riku." A chorus of snickers filled the air at the Rikku-Riku pairing, but Sora's heart just did a weird confused little half-beat as another chance to befriend Riku slipped by him. He didn't pay much attention to the other pairs, tuning in only when he heard:

"Holani, Sora. You're with Paine, Alandre." He looked back to seek out his partner, and a girl with extremely pale rusty-brown hair and crimson eyes gave a nod as his eyes met hers. He felt a shudder of something akin to apprehension. Red eyes? Talk about creepy. She looked like one of those goth vampire kids who filed their teeth in to points and drank each other's blood for kicks. An image of Paine, Alandre gnawing on his jugular and lapping up his blood like a kitten came unbidden to Sora's mind and something that definitely was apprehension shuttered completely down his spine.

_Great_, he though, _not only do I not get a chance to train with Riku, I'm not even going to make it to try-outs because psycho-goth over there is going to have me for dinner tonight._

"Alright, that's it kiddies. Let's move!" Sora's shoulders drooped and he gusted a sigh as Coach Auron officially ended the meeting. First day of High School and he'd managed to become known as the resident celebrity ass-kisser, been totally blown off by the guy he'd been obsessing over for years, and now he'd have to train for a week with someone who probably didn't even know how to speak in anything other than bad emo poetry. He groaned inwardly, dragging his feet as he headed out to the practice pool.

_This day sucks._

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**Translation Notes:**

Earlier in the story, Kida uses a couple of words from the "Native Paopuan language." Yes, I'm an uber-dork. Get over it… Here's a basic translation and pronunciation guide for those words.

_Paopuan Terms:_

_Gaole_ (ga-oh-lay) _n_. – a small insect comparative to a dung beetle. Basic insult to a person you view as below you. This is the word that Tidus was murdering after Kida left.

_Futu_ (foo-too) _n_. – 'shit' basically. Used basically to say "I don't give a rat's ass" and such.

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**Author Notes:**

BLARGH! Yeah…this is an interesting story I think. I'm actually having a lot of fun with it and tho I don't know how many other peeps out there are gonna read, I'm gonna try to see this through to the end. I'm considering this a little bit of a challenge for myself. I've never written a fic with a word count per chapter quite like this, so I'm gonna see…well, how this will turn out I guess. I blame all the other writers on this site who like to post several-thousand-word chapters for their multi-part fics…it puts ideas into my head…tho I do plan to finish this in under a year…

Random things of Interest:

-The Islands and culture I'm working from are something vaguely Hawaiian/Polynesian. Paupuan National is actually based off a HS I heard about while I was visiting Hawaii. Seemed like a really cool thing, so I included it here.

-Sephiroth's company "Serifim" is a play on words. 'Serif' is a term in typography(fonts and stuff) and 'Seraphim' are the highest order of angels. Combine the two words and you get 'Serifim'…a little graphic design humor there. Anyone catch that?

-At the end there, Paine is indeed Alandre Paine with Paine as the last name…just seemed more fitting. She will only go by her last name because she hates her given name for some reason. I really like it tho…she seems like an Alandre to me…:shrug:

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Next chapter…Blitzball try-outs! I guess it won't be a huge shock who makes the team, but there should be some other interesting bits for you to enjoy. Please offer your thoughts. Do you like the natives? the Disney char cameos? Oh! And a cookie for anyone who can name Sora's art teacher:9

**REVIEW!** I'm sickly and posting anyway! ;--;


	3. Ch 2: Mamma said

**Standard Disclaimer:** Disqueenix owns it all!

**Notes:** I lied!!! Got half way through this beast before realizing that there was no way we'd make it to try-outs with all the other stuff that needed to happen, so…yeah. This chap focuses a lot on Sora's mom and we find out a bit more on what's up with that. There's a lost of bad language too due to Hayner's potty mouth, so consider yourselves warned.

**Dedication:** This chap goes out to my best bud **Lokotei** because she's the one who can soothe the savage beast that is my tendency toward hypercriticism of myself. There is a special first appearance specifically because she mentioned him and I'd neglected to cast him anywhere. You'll know who it is when you read it, babe!

**Edit:** So I decided belatedly to make Roxas and Naminé siblings…fraternal twins to be exact, so for those of you who read ch.1 before I posted ch.2, know that I made minor changes to the first chap to accommodate this decision. It's not a huge deal…just something that works better in my plans for later chapters.

**Warnings:** Gratuitous use of Disney and Square characters, probably some language, at least one homosexual relationship, bigoted ass-holes, semi non-con encounters, made-up culture and language, lots of Blitzball, and general teen awkwardness. Enjoy!

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**Life on the Blitz**

**Chapter 2: **

**Mamma said there'd be days like this…**

"Soooo…How was the first day?" Sora groaned his opinion into the phone earning a chuckle from his aunt. "That good, huh?"

"I just want to call do-overs on the whole thing," he whined in response.

"Oh I'm sure it's not as bad as you think."

"Rinoa," he said flatly, "my Blitzball partner likes to go by 'Paine.'"

"Oh, well names don't mean anything. I'm sure he's perfectly nice—"

"_She's_ a girl."

"And I'm still sure she's perfectly nice once you get to know her," Rinoa said without missing a beat. "C'mon Sora. You just started High School, you've got Blitzball try-outs on Saturday, you're making new friends…you were excited about all of this a few days ago. I didn't realize the angsty teenager bug was so catching."

"Well it is, so get used to it before I go full-out emo-kid on you," Sora said haughtily over the line. He managed to get the desired chuckle from his aunt and relented a little with a sigh. "I guess things just didn't really go the way I thought they would. Tidus has all these friends already, and I got called in to talk to my Guidance Counselor, and a few of my teachers are just psycho—"

"Wait, why'd you have to go see your counselor?" she asked with a hint of concern.

"Oh, that's the best part. Apparently the school wants to make sure that I'm ok living on my own so they've assigned Mr. 'Call Me Leon' Leonhart to look out for me. All of my teachers are supposed to report to him if I start screwing up or something." The other end of the line was oddly quiet. "Hello?"

"Yeah, sorry. I'm still here. Did you say that's your counselor's name is Leonhart?"

"Yeah. Why, you know him?"

"No…no couldn't be." Sora raised an eyebrow at the slightly wistful note in his aunt's voice at this. He wanted to press her for information, but he could tell that she didn't really want to talk about it, and after their years living together, they had both learned not to press each other on topics they'd rather not discuss.

"You really shouldn't worry about it," she was saying. "I actually think it's good that there's someone at school looking out for you."

"Pft, you would," he grumbled back. "You're not the one who has to meet with his counselor every month for wellness checks."

"I suppose I can see your point there," she said with a hint of mischief in her voice. Sora waited for the punch line…"There really is no point to wellness checks when it's already so obvious that you are most definitely _not_ well."

"Wow Rinoa, that was so funny I forgot to laugh," Sora said, completely deadpan, and Rinoa continued laughing heartily at her own joke.

"Oh, c'mon sourpuss. You've barely given me a chuckle this whole conversation. Tidus having friends and you visiting your counselor can't have been that bad, so what aren't you telling me? I know you, buster, what's really bugging you?" Sora glared at the receiver. How was it that she could completely see through him even over the phone? He was not about to admit to his aunt that this was really just him whining because his feelings were hurt. He was especially not about to admit that they were hurt because a guy he barely knew didn't want to be his friend…there was just something very…pre-school about the notion.

"It's nothing, I swear," he grumbled. Flashing a pointless resentful glare at an imaginary Riku in his head, Sora resigned himself to get over it and returned to his conversation with Rinoa. "How's the new job?"

"Subtle," she snickered at the rather pointed change of subject.

"I try," Sora told her, "but I really do want to know, so consider the topic changed for the time being."

"Whatever," she sighed. She too knew when not to push things. "It seems interesting enough. The other people who work there are friendly, and the environment is nice. I get an office and everything even though I have to share it with another person. I mean I haven't started actually working yet so I can't say how it really is, but it looks promising."

"Well I'm glad _your_ first day went well at least."

"Hey speaking of first days, when do you start working the front desk?" She was referring to Sora's part-time job working as staff at his apartment in exchange for his reduced rent.

"Cid's giving me this week to get settled and figure everything out with school, but I'll basically always be on call starting Monday."

"He knows about your practices and everything right?"

"Yeah, I'll only be scheduled in for the after 6 blocks. Things are supposed to be quiet around then so I'll probably be able to get homework and stuff done at the desk."

"And what about your other job?" she asked. "Have you got everything figured out for Saturday?" Even though Sora was working as staff at the apartment complex, he still had a small monthly fee to pay off. That meant that he had to get another job so that he could earn money for his reduced rent as well as other minor needs like school supplies, clothes…oh, and food.

"Yeah," he told her, carefully controlling his voice so that he didn't reveal the wave of stress that had swept over him at the thought of all he had to do. "Try-outs should finish by noon and I've already figured out the bus route to downtown. I don't start work until 2 so I should have plenty of time."

"Sounds like you've got everything figured out then," there was a note of sadness in her voice, and Sora held back a sigh of frustration. Rinoa was the one person that he always felt he could speak freely with, but now if she was starting to feel sorry for him too…

"Well I wouldn't have either of these jobs if you hadn't helped me out," he told her earnestly. "You did so much already, Rinoa, but you don't have to take care of me anymore. Things are going to be weird for a while, but it's fine, right? You deal or you die, and I'm not the dying type."

"I know Sora," Sora could hear the strain in her voice and he was terrified that she was going to start crying. He didn't deal well with tears. "I just hate that things had to be this way. You're such a good kid, y'know?"

"Rinoa, please don't—"

"It's true," she was adamant, and Sora knew that the only way to not hear what she wanted to say would be to hang up on her, which he would never do, so he sat and just listened.

"We never talked much about this when we lived together, and the last couple of days were so crazy with me moving and us trying to get you work and a place to live and your paperwork finalized…" There was a pause while Rinoa got her thoughts ordered and, to Sora's immense relief, she sounded a lot less on the verge of tears when she spoke again.

"Look. I have an idea of what goes on in that head of yours Sora, alright? I know that you're hurting and I know that you're doing your best to be strong, and you really are doing an amazing job of it. I don't know that I'd be able to still function after half the things you've been through." Sora really was considering hanging up at this point. He really didn't need to be dealing with her emotions on top of everything else.

"You really are something special, Sora, so just know that it's not you, ok? The whole thing with your mom's condition, it's not because of you." There was silence between them for a long moment, the occasional sound of breath moving across Rinoa's mouthpiece the only sign that they had not been disconnected. Sora was struggling to calm his fiercely pounding heart and closed his eyes against a dull ache forming at the base of his skull, and when he finally spoke, it was very softly. He was about to tell her something that he'd never spoken aloud to anyone before.

"I know," he said. He wasn't even sure if Rinoa could hear him properly but he also really didn't care. It was hard enough to say this without needing to repeat it. "I know that mom's condition isn't about me. That's kind of the problem isn't it?" An unexpected wave of resentment flooded his chest, giving his voice a bitter edge. "It's never been about _me_. _I'm_ not the one who matters to her." He knew that he had been heard from the audible intake of air from the other line.

"Sora—"

"Look," he said cutting her off. He wasn't going to talk about this anymore, and she was going to figure that out. "I'm really tired and I have to go figure out what to make for dinner and I know it's late where you are, so we should really get off the phone."

"Sora, don't think I'll drop this just because you want to avoid the issue," she said, and he could hear the frustration in her voice.

"I'm not expecting you to," he told her flatly, "but either way I don't want to talk about it anymore." There was a tense silence, and Sora was worried that she would press the issue and he'd have to hang up on her. Thankfully, Rinoa knew how to choose her battles.

"Watch out for that creepy owner guy on Saturday," she said quietly, jumping back to his impending first day of work, which was what had started the whole other sordid conversation. "It was cool that he gave you a job even though all of your paper work wasn't done yet, but there's just something off about him."

"I thought he was pretty cool," Sora said treading gratefully back into safer waters, "and his partners seemed normal enough." There was a pause in their conversation that lasted just a bit longer than comfortable before Rinoa finally sighed and said:

'Take care of yourself, ok Sora?"

"Will do," he told her, a little warmth from her concern finally reaching his heart and coloring his voice. "Got the legal documents that say I can and everything." She chuckled for him. He smiled for her even though she couldn't see it.

"G'night, ya spikey haired freak," she said affectingly.

"I love you too Rinoa," he answered then softly hung up the phone. Well…that had been unexpected. No shock there really; his entire day had been nothing but one screwed up surprise after another. He flopped back on his bed with a mournful groan and did his best to turn off his brain for a while. His small apartment was quiet, but there was plenty of noise from the street directly outside his window so it wasn't a stifling silence. He lay there for a while just breathing before he reluctantly dragged himself up to continue unpacking his things.

He had only been in the apartment for about 3 days. It hadn't really been a difficult move as he was just a flight of stairs and a walkway down from where he'd lived before, but the new apartment was nothing like the one he had shared with Rinoa. It was a lot smaller, studio style layout, and probably the worst placement out of all of the apartments in the complex, but Sora didn't care. It was a place to stay and all things considered, it was pretty nice. There were several services and utilities covered under his rent, so everything he got for what he paid was definitely a steal.

He'd barely get by with how much he'd earn from his jobs, but Rinoa had promised to help him out if he ever needed extra cash, and while Sora was going to do his level best to avoid needing her help, it was nice to know that he had someone to fall back on. He was struck by a sudden flash of loneliness and walked over to his computer to queue up some music. The computer had been Rinoa's. Sora hadn't had a chance to customize it with his personal touches yet so as the screen came alive, he found himself staring at Rinoa's familiar desktop: a picture of herself and her huge brown, black and white dog Angelo. Sora sat for a moment, just missing Rinoa before turning away to start emptying another box.

Rinoa was technically his half-aunt. There had apparently been some drama on his father's side of the family involving an illicit affair between his grandmother and some guy who had a wife on the mainland. When it turned out that his grandma was pregnant with his father, the other guy denied any ties to her and lived happily with his other family. Most of them didn't even know that Sora's father let alone Sora even existed, but Rinoa had found out somehow and taken it upon herself to track down her half-brother.

She had been fresh out of college when he first met her, accepted into a Master's program at Destiny Pacific U. She introduced herself to Sora directly as Rinoa (none of that 'aunty' business) and shook his hand in greeting like an adult. Sora had liked her immediately. His mother and father had showered her with love and affection, generally accepting her as the family she claimed to be without question or hesitation.

It had probably been a pretty big surprise for her when not 6 months after finding her long-lost brother, he vanished at sea and Rinoa found herself taking care of a 9-year-old when she was barely 22. She had taken it in stride though. After his mother's breakdown, she had insisted that Sora move in with her, and being young, scared, and confused, Sora had been in no place to refuse even if he'd wanted to. And so it came to be that Sora was moved into the spare room of Rinoa's small apartment while she struggled to keep up with school and reestablish balance in her suddenly upturned life. Sora had just gone with it.

That had been almost six years ago, and he had been living with her ever since. Now, with her graduated from grad school and done with her PoliSci internship, she was back on the mainland getting on with her life, and that was how things were supposed to be. Sora was glad that she had gone back. He didn't want to interrupt her life any more than he already had, and her letting him stand on his own went a long ways in making him feel better about the years of impromptu parenting he had dropped into her lap.

It would take some getting used to, but Sora knew that he'd adapt to life on his own and that things would work out in the end. He had music, internet, school, work and who knows what else to contend with. He'd be way too busy to ever get too lonely.

Shoving the last of his comics onto a shelf and collapsing the box they had been in, Sora headed to his small kitchen to start working on dinner. Living with a grad student meant that he had to get used to cooking for himself and Rinoa, too. There were always papers and study groups and practicals for her to worry about, so it was up to Sora to make sure they both ate properly. He was no master chef, but he could manage the basics and he was overwhelmingly grateful that he wasn't the stereotype of a 14-year-old, knowing nothing about washing their own clothes or cooking their own meals. It made this whole living alone thing a lot easier.

As he poured a jar of spaghetti sauce into a pan to simmer, his mind drifted back to a topic that he usually made a point of avoiding; his mother. Rinoa had made a point of taking him to visit her regularly. The doctors said the contact with her son might serve as and anchoring point to help ground her back to reality. It had been 6 years. So far, not grounding.

Now that Rinoa was gone, it would be up to Sora to get to the psychiatric facility where his mother was being treated on his own. He had realized this a while back and had taken the liberty of looking up the bus route already. All that was left was for him to actually go. He wasn't looking forward to going to that place alone, but if there was any chance that his presence would help his mom, he would go. There was no question about it. He would be the one to ask the doctors about her condition, he would be the one to check to make sure the finances were ok…he would do it all.

Sora set aside the lettuce he had washed for a salad, turning off the water and taking a deep breath. There was no time like the present. It was too late to make the trip to Way to Dawn right then, but he would have time after school tomorrow. The following week he'd be working for Cid, and soon he'd have homework and other assignments and Blitzball (hopefully) eating away his time. He had no clue when he'd next be able to visit his mom, so he would do it tomorrow. He would let her know that he knew that she'd get better, and that he would stay with her until she did.

Nodding to himself, Sora went to check on his pasta, shoving any anxiety he felt aside. All of that could wait until tomorrow.

-:- -:- -:-

"Why exactly is it that the school wants to give us back problems?" Sora grunted dropping his bulging bag to the ground beside his locker.

"My theory; it has something to do with our cultural education. Native labor practices or something." Roxas stood a few lockers down leaning heavily against his own storage space as he caught his breath from the exertion of carrying his bag, which, like Sora's, was brimming with books. They had been assigned lockers and text books in Homeroom that day, and both boys were beyond grateful for a place to dump their loads. Sora turned, fishing the small slip of paper with his locker combination from his pocket and carefully spinning in the code.

"Either that or the Principal's some sadistic bastard who gets his jollies from watching us bent over and grunting," he grumbled. It was just after 2nd period and Nutrition had begun. Only two classes, and already Sora was sure that his bag had to weigh about as much as he did. He rubbed his aching shoulders, closing his locker and taking up his much lighter bag.

"I don't know what I'll do if I ever have homework in all of my classes at once ever," he moaned. "I have to walk everywhere. I'm going to end the year as a hunchback."

"Oh, no worries Sora!," Hayner said walking over to them with his emptied bag slung over a shoulder. "We'll just have to be sure to straighten you out during Blitz practice!"

"I'm not sure if that's something that I actually want." Sora said scratching his head and eyeing his friend nervously. With the kinds of tackles Hayner and Roxas were both known for, they'd more likely sever his spine than straighten it. "Anyway," he said, moving on, "I'm gonna go grab a bite before I have to face my psycho Science teacher. For all I know this could be my last meal…"

"You have Vexen too?" Roxas asked with a small shudder not needing to ask which psycho science teacher Sora was talking about. "I seriously want out of that class. I'd have gone to see my counselor yesterday if I hadn't heard that he's insane about having even numbers for his labs or something and won't let anyone out of his classes without his express permission, and _apparently_, the last kid who asked him contracted some weird virus and had to withdraw from the school altogether."

"Yeah right," Sora rolled his eyes, "Like they'd let the guy keep teaching if he were that crazy."

"I'm just sayin' what I've heard," Roxas said with a shrug of his shoulders in a voice that also could be heard as, "your funeral." Despite his scorn, Sora brow creased in concern and he fell silent.

"That's why you guys should have done Chem with me," Hayner gloated smugly. "Doc Merlin's awesome. He's showing us a lot of the science behind magic tricks and stuff. Even I'm excited about his class."

"Didn't know your were into the old-guy ass," Roxas laughed, "I think I'll pass on seeing you get 'excited' over Doc Merlin." Hayner casually smacked his friend as they wandered into the line at the snack bar.

"Gross, Rox. You're lucky I'm too hungry to kick your ass right now."

"Man, I can't wait for 6th period," Sora said ignoring the exchange and scanning the selection of snacks through the window ahead of him. "Have you guys ever been in Game Suits before?"

"No," Hayner said a little plaintively. "The whole thing kinda freaks me out. Just doesn't seem like it makes sense how they work."

"That's why you should stop staring at Doc Merlin's ass and actually pay attention in science class sometimes," Roxas said barely containing his laughter. Hayner punched his shoulder this time.

"Keep it up, Capiz, I'm losing my patience." Seeing Roxas collapse into a full laughing fit, and the rage rising in Hayner's posture and expression, Sora knew that the situation might explode into something very unpleasant very quickly. Hayner had a wicked temper. Without putting much thought to his actions, Sora shoved his way between his friends keeping them separate and before giving his brain the proper time it needed to edit or consider the words that came from his mouth he blurted:

"I'll diffuse this situation with diffusion!"

The entire food court area went silent as all eyes fell on Sora. Sora froze, positive that every drop of blood in his body was making it's way to his face as he realized a) what he had just said, and b) how loudly he'd said it.

"What the _fuck_ are you talking about, Holani?" Hayner said breaking the silence, and it was as if a spell had been broken. Conversations picked back up, food and beverages again were consumed, Roxas redoubled his laughter and Sora smacked himself on the forehead. He could already see people rushing off to report the latest exploits of the ass-kissing freshman freak show. Oh joy.

"Seriously, Sora." Hayner said turning to the cashier and making his order. "Keep this shit up and we're gonna have to stop hanging out with you."

"That was priceless!" Roxas gasped, rediscovering his ability to speak. "'Diffuse with diffusion.' I didn't peg you for a closet geek, Sora."

"Riiight….closet…" Sora said under his breath as he stepped up to the window.

"Didn't quite catch that," Roxas said jabbing Sora in the shoulder with his chin as he rested it there. Sora flinched away with a laugh.

"Hey! Don't do that!" he said trying to school his face as he stepped out of line with his chips and soda.

"And ticklish too!" Hayner said with an evil glint in his eyes. "What other dirt don't we know about you, Holani?"

"D-dirt?" Sora asked nervously. "There's no dirt. My life is squeaky clean." He gave a winning smile that quickly became much more nervous. He really didn't like the looks he was suddenly getting from his two classmates. A slow smirk spread across Roxas' lips as he opened his bottle of soda and took a sip.

"We'll see," he said. Sora gave a nervous chuckle.

They wandered slowly in the general direction of their tree, not really in a rush since they knew the bell would be ringing soon anyway. If they made it there, they'd probably just have to turn right back around.

"Seriously, though," Hayner said through a mouthful of pretzels. "What the hell were you talking about back in line?"

"It was just a really bad pun," Sora said, cheeks warming again at the memory. "I'd thank you forever if you never mentioned it again." He actually thought the whole situation was pretty hysterical. That had to have been the worst pun he'd ever come up with. It barely even made sense, which made it even more perfect in the bad joke department, but he had taken Hayner's words to heart. He had no problem making an ass of himself in public, but if Hayner and Roxas were uncomfortable with it, he'd just make sure not to be too much of an idiot around them.

"It's how the Game Suits work," Roxas said, and Sora looked over at him in surprise. Apparently he wasn't the only closet geek around. "Simple diffusion. The suits are made of a special material that allows oxygen and other breathable gases to pass through and move up to the face mask for players to breathe while at the same time keeping water out, all powered by a tiny battery pack and the movement of the person in the suit. Simple as that." Roxas gave Sora a wink, smiling as he said, "Every 2-year-old who's ever had even a passing interest in Blitzing knows this Hayner. Where have you been?"

A pretzel bounced off of Roxas' temple and he flinched sharply, almost dropping his slice of watermelon.

"Ouch, asshole! That was almost my eye!" he growled at Hayner.

"Payback for all the wrinkled ass remarks," came Hayner's response. "Don't think I don't know what you were about to say." Roxas paused with his mouth open as though he indeed was about to say something more, but apparently thought better of it turning to Sora instead.

"So what was up at Nutrition yesterday?" he asked flicking one last calculating glance at Hayner. Sora knew it was bad news when Roxas started calculating.

"What, you mean the whole thing with my Guidance Counselor?" He took a sip from his soda trying to figure out how to respond to the question. He didn't want to lie outright, but he really didn't want to talk about his issues with two people who, while really nice, he'd barely known for two weeks and who were apparently looking for 'dirt' on him now.

"Yeah," Hayner piped in, taking a swig from his own drink. "It usually takes me at least the first week before I get called into the office, what did you do to make it in on the first day?"

"Not all of us are delinquents like you, Hayner," Sora rolled his eyes at his friend. "There are other reasons that people get called to the office."

"Yeah right, if someone dies, maybe," Hayner grumbled derisively. Sora didn't flinch at the comment but his mind flashed back for a moment to a day several years prior when a call to the office had changed his life indefinitely. He shrugged, focusing on the bright yellow cap of his bottle.

"I just have some…issues at home," he offered hesitantly. "The school knows about them and wanted to check in on me."

"Is everything alright?" Roxas asked with what seemed like real concern.

"I don't really want to get into it," Sora said honestly. "But I have to go talk to my counselor at Nutrition on the first Monday of every month for the foreseeable future."

"Wow that's lame," Hayner said raising his bag of pretzels to dump the last of them in his mouth. "I avoid my counselors like the plague, that would be like torture or something."

"That's because you'd rather be catchin' some old-man ass!," Roxas said evilly, snatching the bag from Hayner's hand before he could get his last precious pretzels out. Hayner watched in something akin to shocked horror as Roxas finished off the pretzels then sprinkled the remaining crumbs and salt all over his head.

"Oh, you are _so_ dead, Capiz!" Hayner growled, just as the bell rang to end Nutrition.

"Saved by the bell!" Roxas called over his shoulder as he dashed towards his next class. "Later, Sora!" Sora was left watching in fascinated amusement as Hayner tried to tackle Roxas but ended up taking down a blond upperclassman in a sleeveless white overcoat. Roxas continued through the crowd without even noticing the situation that he had just set into motion. Hayner took a moment to watch as his orange soda, which he'd been planning to use against Roxas, seeped into the white material of the older boy's clothes before looking up into blue eyes that were clouding with fury. Everyone in the breeze way froze in shocked horror. Apparently the guy was well known.

"You're cleaning this up with your tongue." The words were hissed out in a voice laced with venom. "But only after I beat the living shit out of you, _freak!"_

"_Fuck!_" came Hayner's response as he scrambled off of the older blonde. He could see from the icy blue glare that the guy was most definitely not kidding about either of those statements. He began chanting a litany of expletives as he struggled to his feet keeping as far away from the new threat as he possibly could. The chant came to a crescendo as the other took a warning step towards him, then Hayner was running top speed away screaming, _"ROXAS, I'M GONNA FUCKING KILL YOU!!!"_ at the top of his lungs.

Sora did his best to hold back his snickers. It definitely wasn't funny that Hayner was likely going to die a very painful and sticky death at the hands of the mystery upperclassman, but the look on his face, and the way his voice had cracked on 'kill' was too priceless for words. His laughter was cut short as a flash of silver hair caught his eye. The last thing he needed right now after the 'diffusion incident' was another awkward encounter with Riku. As it turned out, the hair in question belonged not to Riku, but rather to a pale, slight and solemn looking girl. She had rushed to the older blonde's side along with a taller, darker and far more muscular boy. The three convened briefly, the blonde directing the other two's attention towards Hayner's retreating back. Without a word, both took off after him, and Sora winched, wishing his friend good luck.

With nothing else to see other than the older blonde glaring down at his clothes in disgust, the crowd of students that had formed began to disperse. Sora did likewise and headed for his 3rd period class dumping his empty bag and bottle into the proper receptacles along the way. By the time he made it to the science building, any good humor that may have been lingering from his eventful Nutrition period had been replaced by a sense of impending doom. He really wasn't looking forward to another period of terror with the Good Professor. Science was one of his favorite subjects and he really didn't want to hate the class, but he couldn't see how he could enjoy it with someone like Professor Vexen in charge.

"Guess I'll just have to be creative," he mumbled to himself as he stepped into the room. He made his way to his alphabetically assigned seat in the second row and began pulling out a pencil and notebook. The room was awkwardly quiet just as it had been all though class the previous day and the silence was doing nothing to spark Sora's creativity. He sighed running a hand through his unruly hair and just hoped the hour would pass quickly. The ripple of terror and thickening of silence that flashed through the room heralded their teacher's arrival, and Sora was suddenly not sure he even _wanted_ to be creative anymore.

"Look to the person sitting next to you and introduce yourself to your new lab partner for the remainder of the semester," Professor Vexen said without preamble. "If there is no one sitting next to you, you will have the good fortune of assisting me in class experiments."

A howling scream erupted from somewhere in the back of the room and Sora snapped his head back in time to see a swinging door and an single sheet of paper drifting in the wake of someone's speedy departure. He blinked once. Had that really just happened?

"I hear that's how he makes sure to keep his class numbers even." Sora jumped at the quiet voice speaking directly into his right ear and turned to see a pair of crystal blue pupils eyeing their teacher suspiciously. "I think the old psycho's just playing with us," the boy sneered. "I'll get him to crack before the semester's out, no problem." The boy shook brown bangs from his eyes as he turned them on Sora. "You in?" Sora gaped at his new lab partner for a moment before a nervous but friendly smile broke across his face. He had no clue what this boy meant by getting their teacher to 'crack' or how he planned to go about doing it, but there was something about the spark of challenge and defiance in his crystal eyes that made Sora want to agree with him just to be in on the plan.

"We'll see," he said extending a hand. He got the distinct impression that this class was going to be a whole lot more bearable with a guy like this as a lab partner. "Sora Holani," he introduced himself. The brown haired boy gave him a winning if mischievous smile and shook his hand.

"Jim Hawkins."

-:- -:- -:-

Sora was a little surprised to see a familiar face in his Paopuan History class when he walked through the door. Hayner and Roxas' friend Pence raised a hand in greeting, smiling brightly.

"I thought I recognized you yesterday," he said and Sora walked over dropping his bag on the desk next to him.

"I totally didn't see you, though," he said sheepishly. "I was sitting at the front of the room." Pence just chuckled lightly.

"No big. I don't think anyone was paying attention to much of anything other than the clock yesterday," Pence said. "I'd heard Xehanort was a freak, but that was ridiculous."

"What, you mean you weren't dying to hear more about the 'darkness that consumes our hearts in the wake of ignorance'?" Sora said imitating the misty, melodramatic lilt to their teacher's speech. Pence and several of the other students within earshot began snickering at the impersonation.

"Oh, I was dying alright," Pence told him. "The only remotely interesting thing he said at all yesterday was that 'demonstration' thing we're supposed to be doing mid-year. I don't even know what that's supposed to be about."

"You've never seen one of school's demos?" Sora asked him, an evil grin pulling at his lips. Pence shook his head watching Sora's expression with growing concern.

"Should I have?"

"It's a pretty big deal on this island," Sora commented blandly. "I'm surprised there are still people hear who haven't seen it."

"Then what's the big deal, what's it all about?" Pence asked more than a little agitated. Sora grinned broadly.

"It's something you'll definitely never forget!" he said brightly, then Xehanort was in front of the class and Pence could only glare at Sora as class began.

-:- -:- -:-

"Ok seriously, I think I just pulled something," Sora complained struggling with his bag. It hadn't been so bad with just his massive Life Science book, but then Mr. Xehanort had assigned about 10 different books of varying sizes, all on the cultural background of the Paopuan people. "Don't they normally assign these things individually?"

"Well there's the problem," Pence panted from his side. "Even if that is how it normally works, there's absolutely nothing normal about this school." Sora let out a plaintive groan as he adjusted his bag on his back keeping careful watch of where he was going. He really had learned his lesson the previous day after crashing into Riku. To Sora's relief (translation: disappointment) there was no sign of his Silver-haired source of awkwardness anywhere as he and Pence trudged along under the weight of their books.

"My locker's here," Pence said turning off down the row they were passing. "See you at the tree?"

"Yeah," Sora said nodding, forcibly ripping his thoughts from Riku and his lack of sightings that day, and continuing down the breezeway. He found Roxas at his locker slamming it shut with a sigh of relief as Sora relieved his back of its burden.

"This is ridiculous," he grumbled spinning in his combination.

"Just be glad you don't have to worry about them all every day," Roxas said resting an elbow on his shoulder in the same way that Tidus had the day before. "I hear last year part of the school was under repairs and a lot of kids had to go without lockers for a while. I think my spine just snapped even thinking about it." Sora laughed at his friend, dumping his small mountain of books into the limited space of his locker.

"Guess if you put it that way…" There was a small moment of quiet while Sora finished with his books and closed his locker. He looked up to see if Roxas was ready to get lunch and noticed the slightly pensive look on his face.

"You ok?" Sora asked, baffled. Roxas had never been pensive before.

"Yeah," Roxas said gusting a sigh. "I'm just trying to figure out how to say this without sounding completely lame." He removed his elbow from Sora's shoulder and scratched at his blonde spikes in a last ditch effort for inspiration. He found none.

"Anyway," he said, "I know you said you didn't want to get into it, but if you ever need to…deal, or vent or whatever, I'll listen, ok? Hayner can be kinda dense sometimes — believe me, I know — but _I_ get that the school wouldn't be involved with your home life unless it was something big. So just…uh…yeah. Keep it in mind."

Sora stared, just a little dumbfounded. He liked Roxas well enough as a potential teammate and friend, but he'd always thought he and Hayner were two of a kind troublemakers. Now, here Roxas was showing a completely different face, and Sora's view of him was forever changed.

"Cool," he finally said into the awkward silence that had fallen after Roxas finished speaking. A small, but truly happy smile pulled at his still bewildered lips. "Thanks." Roxas rolled his eyes and punched Sora lightly on the arm before heading off towards the lunch lines.

"Food, Holani," he called back. "We're gonna need it for practice today." Sora stood for a second longer, chuckling to himself before following. Go fig…

-:- -:- -:-

Hayner arrived at the tree dripping with orange soda.

"Not. One. Word," he growled at the area at large as he took his usual seat on one of the large roots. The entire group was staring at him, Roxas nearly choking as he tried to hold back his laughter. Hayner glared and promptly rubbed his soaking hair across Roxas' face. That shut him up quick.

"You smell like and orange popsicle!" Selphie offered. "Can I lick you?!"

"Do I even know you?" Hayner snapped ringing out his shirt. Selphie shot him a pouting glare before continuing her chat with Kairi and Naminé who were both giggling and blushing at the double meaning that could be read in Selphie's words.

"Hey!" Tidus said fighting off his own fit of laughter. "Don't be so grumpy! You should really count yourself lucky. Most people who piss off Seifer Almasy don't get off nearly so easy."

"He vowed to make my life a living hell from this day forward," Hayner wailed. "How much worse can it get?"

"That," Tidus replied, giving a sagely shake of the head, "you'd be better off never knowing. Hey maybe you should rethink making an appearance at my Blitz party this weekend." Just that fast, the sage was gone and the teen was back.

"Hell, no! What would he be doing there anyway?" Hayner reached over and stole a fry from Roxas' basket.

"Oh, shit!" Tidus exclaimed in a mixture of humor and horror. "I forgot you guys don't know everybody yet. Seifer's one of the star forwards on the Varsity Team. Everyone's already got him pegged for captain after Kida and Ariel graduate." A half eaten fry fell from Hayner's suddenly nerveless lips.

"You've gotta be shitting me!"

"Sorry bud." Tidus placed a comforting hand on the one part of Hayner's shirt that wasn't completely soaked through. "I shit you not. You just made enemies with one of the best blitz players and most popular people on campus. Congratulations." Hayner bent over and picked up the soggy fry, flinging it with unerring accuracy at Roxas' head.

"This all your dumb-ass fault," he snarled. Pence and Olette sent each other knowing looks as they shifted closer to the others around the tree.

"Here they go," Pence muttered knowing what was coming next.

"Hey!" Roxas said trying to free the fry from where it had gotten tangled in his spikes. "Don't blame me because you're a clumsy-ass!" The two continued to bicker and the others sitting around, who had been offering half an ear as they continued in their own conversations, completely tuned them out now.

"Anyway," Tidus spoke up, "you guys are coming to my party, right?" The bell rang before any of them could answer. "I'll take that as a yes!" he said grabbing his bag. 'Things start at 7 but probably won't really get going until 9 or 10. Dress to impress, Sora's got my addy." None of the others could get a word in edgewise as Tidus hurried off with several of his other friends. They stared dumbly after him before turning eyes back to each other and blinking.

"Well I guess that's that," Olette said, a little mystified. And that it was indeed. The group collected their trash and split for their classes, all still chuckling about their impromptu weekend plans.

"Is Tidus always so…persuasive?" Naminé asked with a small giggle as they headed to art.

"What, you mean does he always get what he wants whether you want it or not?" Sora paraphrased for her. "Pretty much. The guy's had everything handed to him for his entire life. He's totally cool most of the time, but he can be a spoiled jerk when he feels like it."

"And how often does he feel like it?"

"In the year and a half that I've know him, I've only had to deal with his jerk half maybe twice, but he likes me. I have no clue how often his dark-side really comes out. I'm not sure that I want to know." They continued talking about nothing and everything as they made their way to class and Sora found it very nice. He'd only known Naminé for about a day, but he could already tell that he would like her. There was something…honest about Naminé. She was quiet, but observant and always quick to smile. She reminded him of Kairi in a lot of ways even though the two of them were complete opposites personality wise. He could see something of Roxas there too now that he'd been introduced to her twin's more considerate side. Whatever the case, he was glad to have another island of sanity in his increasingly insane High School life. He got the distinct impression that he wouldn't survive very long without them.

He was opening his mouth to say something to her when he was suddenly and very unexpectedly snatched from the flow of student traffic and only managed a small yelp. Panic seized his heart for a split second before his brain registered that it was probably just Tidus or Hayner or one of his other friends. That thought was immediately debunked as he found himself roughly tossed against a wall and staring into the piercing green eyes of a complete stranger. Sora could only stare dumbly as a threatening finger was raised and leveled at his face.

"Listen, freak," the stranger, who looked to be a little older than Sora, said with more than a little hostility in his voice. "You can trail after Mihana as much as you like, but stay the hell away from Riku! He's already had enough of this shit without some fucked-up stalker-type coming in and starting it up again." The red-head stepped back glaring death rays at Sora who by now was completely confused.

"The name's Axel," he was told. "A-X-E-L. Commit it to memory. If I hear one word about you following him places or doing any of that other creepy shit, _I'm_ the one who'll be stalking _your_ psycho ass." He leaned in closer causing Sora to back fully against the wall in an attempt to reconstruct his invaded personal bubble. "And that is something you _do not_ want to happen." After one more scathing look, Axel turned and left in a fury. Sora was left with the impression of dancing flames as Axel's red spikes vanished around the corner and Sora just stood where he was, trying to process what had just happened. He remembered Axel now. He's been the one Riku sat next to in Art the day before. They looked to be pretty good friends, but Sora still didn't understand the confrontation. How could two chance encounters at school be considered anything even close to stalking? Maybe Riku was the psycho one, sicking his friends on kids who were just trying to be nice.

The warning bell pulled Sora out of his thoughts and he hurried around the corner to get to class. He spotted Axel again sitting next to Riku as soon as he entered the room and paused as he was all but scalped by Axel's searing glare. It only lasted a moment before he was summarily ignore once again. Riku didn't even look up. Shaking his head and still trying to figure out what he'd done, Sora ran a hand through his hair and sat down next to Naminé again.

"You vanished in the hallway," she said looking at him with mild concern. "Is everything ok?" Sora offered a wry grin as he pulled out his sketchbook.

"I wish I knew."

-:- -:- -:-

Practice after Sora's encounter with Axel was an awkward affair. All of the guppies were assigned Game Suits and shown how to put them on, take them off, clean them, and store them properly, but through the whole lecture, Sora's mind kept wondering back to the his little pre-art confrontation. What was Riku saying about him to other people? What if Riku was the one spreading the crazy rumors circulating around about him? Maybe he wasn't such a nice guy after all…

"Each of these suits is worth more than any one of you is," Coach Clayton was saying, and Sora tuned back in immediately. "If you don't give them proper care and they are damaged somehow as a result of your negligence, replacing the suit will fall to you and your families."

Sora looked down at the all-black wetsuit he was wearing, thoughts of Axel and Riku momentarily pushed aside. He ran a nervous finger over the power cell and weight belt. There was no way he could pay to replace something so expensive so he knew he'd be taking very good care of his suit if he made the team.

The rest of their hour was spent in the pool learning about their suits from their partners. Working with call-me-Alandre-again-and-die Paine was, pardon the pun, painful. She gave a ten-word explanation of how to use the buoyancy controls and monitor the power in their cells before settling back to glare at Sora as he struggled to figure out how to use the controls and how to make best used of them for Blitzing purposes. He spent most of the time bobbing up and down like a buoy in the sea.

When the final bell (finally) rang signaling the end of practice for the newbies, everyone left the pool to put the Game Suits away. Sora dragged himself to the boy's locker room groaning inwardly. Maybe this whole Blitzball thing wasn't such a hot idea after all. Maybe he should take up HomeEc with Tidus and get into college on….a sewing scholarship! He could stitch his way to the future! Rolling his eyes at his own lameness, Sora sighed in defeat.

Of course he didn't really want to give up Blitzball, but so far, nothing was going as he had expected it. He hadn't counted on school practices being so different from Blitz Camp. He hadn't counted on the awkwardness that now existed between himself and his could-be Vice-captain, not to mention his psycho training partner. He really hadn't been expecting the growing inferiority complex he felt at the physiques of the older players.

Sora had never been exactly large for his age…the word puny might even have come up once or twice in his childhood, but he had never really cared before. It had never really mattered, but now somehow, seeing the strong muscular builds of the JV players, and even the developing bodies of his fellow guppies, Sora couldn't help but notice he was the least developed of them all.

_I'm not even a guppy, _he thought cheerlessly. _I'm a shrimp._

"You'd better watch yourself, Mihana!" a loud voice with a cocky edge interrupted Sora's thoughts. "Looks like your little stalker-freak friend's checkin' out your ass!" Snickers filled the locker room, and Sora's face flamed as he realized that, as he'd been feeling sorry for himself, his unseeing gaze had indeed landed on his friend's black clad rear. _Angsting really doesn't bring about anything good does it!?_ he thought, desperately trying to come up with an excuse. He saw the dark look on Roxas' face as he sent a glare in the direction the voice had come from, Hayner's raised eyebrow as he tried to figure out what was going on, and Sora knew he had to say something before the situation escalated into something even more unpleasant than it already was. He opened his mouth to stutter some kind of explanation, but Tidus spoke up first.

'You sound jealous, Bickson," he called back with a smirk, "Didn't know you were so desperate for a piece of this." More snickers filled the room, this time with a couple of catcalls added for good measure. Sora looked around nervously to gauge people's reactions and was relieved to find that for the most part, everyone was still stripping and changing, taking only cursory interest in the shouted conversation. _Whew!_ Didn't look like anyone had taken the comment seriously, but he hoped it wouldn't be a problem either way.

Sora was just completing his look-around of the locker room thinking all was well when he found himself confronted by the glaring eyes of his second red-head for the day. This one was leaning casually against the locker room wall, already changed back into his practice suit. His drying bangs hung limply in his face while the rest of his hair was tied back in a short tail. Based on the scowl that graced the older boy's face, Sora felt safe in assuming that this was probably Bickson. Sora gulped and quickly turned away from those furious eyes before they burned a hole through his skull.

"You wish Mihana," came Bickson's growled reply, "no one in their right mind would want to lay a finger on your disgusting ass."

"Yet you keep talking about my ass," Tidus said, turning to face Bickson, his cockiest smirk fully in place. "Methinks the lady doth protest too much." More snickers and Sora's eyes widened as Bickson launched himself from the wall to stalk towards Tidus.

"Is there a problem, gentlemen?" A cool, cultured voice asked from the hallway, and coach Clayton stepped into the locker room.

"No, sir," Bickson said glaring once at Tidus before leveling his glare at Sora. _WTF?!?_ "No problems at all."

"Good. Then I expect the rest of you back in the pool in five minutes. I think the guppies can change back into their clothing on their own." With this, Clayton turned to head back down the hallway, but Sora didn't miss the odd glance he received as his coach walked away. He didn't even try to interpret the look, opting instead to get out of the piece of sports equipment he was wearing that was worth more than he was and get off campus as quickly as possible before one of the buildings randomly decided to collapse on him. Seriously, what was up with everyone today?

Sora waved a hurried good-bye to the others as he headed towards the bus stop checking his watch. It would be about 15 minutes before his bus came, so he didn't need to rush, but he still felt the pressure of his crap day weighing on him and really wanted to get away from the school as quickly as possible.

"Hey, Holani!" Sora froze and looked back at Hayner's call. He, Tidus and Roxas were walking his way, Tidus walking his bike and Hayner and Roxas both with skateboards tucked under their arms. "We're gonna go hang-out at my place, you wanna come?" Hayner offered. Sora smiled a little awkwardly at the invitation. Part of him was really happy. He'd never really been invited to hang-out with people before and he really wanted to go, but another part of him just wanted to go home, bury his head under a pillow and not come out for the rest of the night. Unfortunately, neither of those options was available.

"I wish I could," he said, smile fading into something more nervous than awkward. _What to tell them?_ "I uh…have to do this thing…for my mom." He gave a nervous chuckle. _That was technically true,_ he thought fidgeting under the strange looks he was getting from his friends.

"Hey," Tidus began, "If this is about all that stuff with Bickson in the locker room, don't worry about it. He's just an ass, been trying to get under my skin for years so—"

"N-no, really," Sora stuttered, cheeks flaming again at the memory. "I have to do this today, but I'll come over next time, ok?" He willed them to accept that and not dig for more information. There was a short tense moment and then…

"No big," Roxas said with a small knowing smile, nudging the others and turning away. The tension seemed to immediately melt away and Sora couldn't help but smile a relieved smile. He was really starting to like that kid. "We'll see you tomorrow, yeah?"

"Yeah," Sora said. "Bright and early. Later guys!" he called backing towards the bus stop again.

'Later," they called after him and the four of them parted ways for the day.

-:- -:- -:-

45 minutes later found Sora walking through the comfortably furnished entryway of the Way to Dawn Care Center. It was a really nice place as far as loony bins went. Walking in, Sora had passed several nurses and orderlies dressed in kakis and polo shirts of varying colors walking patients around the front lawn, through the side gardens, or just sitting with them on the grass, enjoying the sun. Sora had planned to start volunteering there once he was old enough, but considering the major changes his life had recently undergone, he knew that it was no longer a likely probability.

"Hey Sora!" the woman behind the reception desk greeted him warmly. Since his mom had been a resident of the place for so long and he visited her so often, he was fairly well known by the staff.

"Hey Tia," he returned the young woman's greeting with a slightly sheepish smile. He knew what questions were about to come.

"Rinoa's not with you today," she said, stating the obvious, and Sora averted his eyes as he replied.

"Yeah, she won't be around for a while," he told her.

"Oh, is everything alright?" she asked, a hint of concern in her voice.

"Yeah, she's great!" He said slapping on a smile that he hoped she'd read as a sign or reassurance. "Things are just a little complicated right now. I'd really rather not get into it."

"Oh no worries," Tia giggled and offered a quick wink. "I just figured I should stall you for a few minutes until your mom got out of her session."

Sora smiled for her even as his stomach dropped into the floor. This was really it. He was going to go see her alone. He hadn't been in a room alone with his mother since…since before she'd been admitted to Way to Dawn. He swallowed back his nerves before asking if it would be ok for him to go to his mom's room.

"Sure!" Tia chirped. "I'll let Dr. Sweet know you're here. He'll come see you as soon as he can I'm sure."

"Cool," Sora said, handing his bag back as was procedure. "Thanks a lot, Tia."

"See you later, Sora!"

Tia's twin brother Tony opened the door into the patient's living quarters before Sora even reached for it. It was always uncanny how both of them seemed to be one step ahead in everything they ever did. Sora didn't remember seeing Tia page her brother to let him know Sora was coming back, yet here he was, ready to escort him down the familiar halls. Sora had gotten over it a while back. He figured it was a twin thing or something.

"Long time no see," Tony smiled down at him. Sora smiled back. "So when you said that Rinoa wouldn't be around for a while, about how long are we looking at?" Sora didn't even blink at Tony's knowledge of his conversation with Tia.

"I don't know," he muttered, "for the foreseeable future I guess." Tony gave a non-committal grunt.

"Well, I hope everything works itself out," he said with the slightest hint of sympathy. They stopped in front of the door to Sora's mom's room and Tony pulled a key card from the holder attached to his kakis. Sliding the card through the reader by the door, Tony gave Sora a firm, reassuring smile.

"I'll be right out here if you need anything. Just knock when you're ready to go." Like he or Rinoa had ever had to knock when Tony was on duty. Sora nodded to him anyway and stepped over the threshold into his mother's room. The curtains were open on the large widow on the back wall and light filled the room revealing a lovely view of the western garden and the sparkling sea beyond. His mother sat facing the right wall working carefully with pigment and brush on her latest artistic creation.

There were several small canvases dotting the room, painting being one of the regular activities that his mother participated in during her stay. It had only been within the past year or so that she had really become interested in the art, and that fact alone had given Sora hope that maybe she was improving. For so long all she had done was wonder about, staring longingly at the sea, so any improvement meant that recovery was still a possibility.

She didn't look up from her work as the door opened nor as it gently clicked shut. Sora stood for a moment just watching her, not sure what to do next. Rinoa had always been the one to take charge during visits. Taking a moment to gather his thoughts, he paused to examine some of the other paintings in the room. Sora was no artist, but he thought that there was something fairly nice about what he saw. The paintings were not rendered by expert hands, but the colors were pretty and one could tell by looking that each had been painted with love.

All paintings were of similar subject matter. Usually a couple holding hands or kissing or holding each other, always with almost comically huge smiles and hearts and flowers filling the background. Others were portraits of a single face, always the same face though the features were distorted by lack of skill. The man had golden brown skin, chestnut hair cropped short but still painted so that it seemed wild and unruly, and his eyes…even in painted form, they seemed to always match the exact color of the sky…the same color as Sora's eyes. Scrawled across one small piece of board laying in a corner was:

"Pao and Rie 4ever"

And Sora couldn't help the pang of hurt that shot through his chest. As always, it was still about his dad. Not one of the pieces of art board or canvas in the room depicted the son of Pao and Rie. There was no board with Sora's name scrawled across it. If one were to judge from the evidence in her work, one would think that Rie Holani was simply a suffering widow left alone in the world. There was not a single sign that she actually had a 14-year-old son patiently waiting for her to come home.

Sora wondered, not for the first time, if his mother even remembered he existed. Most of the time, it seemed she didn't, but there were rare occasions when that would change. Sometimes when Sora spoke to his mother, her eyes would light with recognition. She would look at him with all the adoration and love of any caring parent, and in those rare moments, Sora could really believe that his mother would come back to him. It was for that reason that he kept coming; chose to live on his own rather than leave his mother behind. He had to believe that she'd get better. He'd already lost his father, but he refused to give up on his mother. It wouldn't be easy. The hole left in their lives where his father used to be would always be there, but if they had each other, if they worked at it together, things could be ok again. He truly believed that.

Clinging to the reality he had created for himself, Sora stepped over to see what his mother was working on. The canvas was covered in green and Sora could see that she was attempting to recreate the western garden spread outside her window. Already, two figures were roughed in, sitting together on a blanket on one of the lawns.

"These are pretty good, mom," Sora said speaking to her at last. She just kept painting as though no one had spoken. Sora stepped around to kneel next to her, resting his hands on her knee, trying to get her attention. "You'll be a regular Picasso by the time you come home, huh?" Her lack of response was doing nothing to hold Sora's constructed reality together. How had Rinoa made it this look so easy? Sighing in defeat, realizing that he wasn't going to have a good session with his mother that day, Sora sat fully back, crossing his legs and contenting himself to sit next to her on the floor and just talk.

He told her about Blitz Camp, his first days of High School, the friends he'd made, the situation with Riku. He grumbled about his upcoming leap into the world of regular employment, and the bachelor's life style. He told her how much he missed her and how he still believed that she'd get better and come home. He rambled on for a good half hour, and through it all, his mother just kept painting. He might as well have been talking to himself. He fought back a sudden wave of emotion seeing her expressionless face and remembering the bright smiles that she always had for her husband and son. For the first time in years, he found that he was almost in tears. He wanted his mom back so desperately in that moment that the pain was almost physical.

"Are you even listening?" he asked thickly, bitterly. Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to visit his mother alone. He never got so emotional when Rinoa had been with him. "Can you even hear me?" he asked, again placing a hand on her knee.

"Oh, I'm sure she can. There just seems to be a little disconnect between input and output." Sora nearly jumped out of his skin at the other voice suddenly in the room. He looked up to see the tall, broad figure of his mother's psychiatrist, Dr. Joshua Sweet, looming over him.

"Sorry, didn't mean to startle you," Dr. Sweet said, leaning over to give Sora a hand up. "It's be a while Sora. How've you been doing? How's that aunt of yours?"

"Uh," Sora said intelligently, brain frantically scrambling to connect 'now' with '30 seconds ago.' He felt like he'd somehow missed a step somewhere along the way.

"No matter," the doctor said with a dismissive shrug, "you're not here to talk about you anyway right? You're here to talk about your mom. Mighty grown of you to be doing this by yourself, by the way. Most kids your age wouldn't step foot into a place like this, probably think the crazy's contagious. Crazy kids. Anyway, c'mon lets have a chat over coffee, man to man."

"Uh…" Sora repeated as Tony opened the door for them (before they reached it) and Sora was led down the hall to a small sitting area overlooking the rear lawn. Dr. Sweet deposited him in one chair then walked around the small round table to sit in the chair opposite him. Sora could only stare dumbly as Tony appeared moments later and placed two cups of steaming coffee in front of them, though Sora noted that his looked and smelled suspiciously more like hot chocolate. Tony gave a small wink before vanishing again.

"Right," Dr. Sweet said lifting a chart that seemed to materialize out of nowhere and taking a loud sip of his coffee. "So I'm sure you weren't paying much attention to my talks with your Aunty Rinoa so I guess I'll have to do the whole overview."

Sora sipped gingerly at his "coffee" as Dr. Sweet gave the abridged version of his mother's medical history. Contrary to the doctor's assumption, none of it was news to him. Persistent psychosis onset by severe emotional trauma, antipsychotic medications have little effect, various treatment methods employed, limited success…yadda yadda yadda…Rinoa had explained it all to him after each of their visits.

"I'm not gonna lie to you, Sora," the doctor said, voice taking on a serious note for the first time during their discussion. "It's been almost six years and the best response we've gotten so far is from the art therapy. There is of course still a chance of recovery, but it's very small at best. I just want to make sure you understand that." Sora sighed, setting down his empty mug and looking the doctor in the eyes.

"Thank you Dr. Sweet," he said, finally managing an actual sentence. "I do understand everything you told me. I understand that my mom may be the way she is now for the rest of her life, but," he gave a small shrug, "what would you have me do? Abandon her here? Wait for my dad's insurance money to run out and let you guys dump her someplace terrible? I still love my mom, and as long as there's even the smallest chance of her getting better, I'm gonna be here for her. There's never been a question on that."

"Thought that's how you'd feel. You really are a good kid, Sora. We won't give up on her, right?" Sora gave a firm nod and a small grin.

"Alright. We'll I've got other patients to see and Holy Smokes, look at the time! You should be heading home soon. Don't you have homework or something? Go say bye to your momma, boy, and hurry up and get home."

"Later, Dr. Sweet," Sora called to the retreating man and turned back to return to his mother's room. He wasn't surprised to find Tony waiting for him already opening the door. He just smiled at him and walked into the room. By now the sun was setting painting the sky with brilliant pinks and oranges that filled his mother's room and made it look completely foreign. She still sat where he had left her, but Sora froze when he looked at the canvas she had been working on. Still there was the sea of green that would become a garden and the figures sitting on a blanket, but now, the two figures were joined by a third; a distinctively smaller figure. Wild spikes had already been roughed in and Sora found himself once again fighting back tears as he stared at his first appearance in one of his mother's paintings.

A broad grin burst across his face. She really had been listening. She really could hear him! Leaning over, he placed an uncertain kiss on his mother's cheek. He stood back to observe his mother's work for a moment more and offered parting words before walking out the door.

'I love you, too, Mom."

-:- -:- -:- -:- -:- -:- -:- -:- -:-

**Author Notes:**

This chapter was really, really difficult to write. A lot of important things began here, but man…I broke my brain trying to make this work.

A couple of little things I want to note:

"Commit it to memory":

HA! Axel's famous line…but not. Anyone whose read the KH:CoM manga should know there this came from. When Sora meets Axel in the manga the whole "got it memorized" line was translated as "Commit it to memory." I've read too many fics that use the actual line, so I thought I'd be a little deviant…

Roxas Capiz:

Ok…I really love this because…there's actually a Roxas City somewhere in the Philippines. When I figured this out I got really happy and decided that Capiz, the area where Roxas City is located, would make a stellar last name for our Roxas in this story.

P.S.

If you recognized the twins, you're cool!

P.P.S.

If you leave a **review,** you're cooler!


	4. Ch 3: Of Confrontation and Confusion

**Standard Disclaimer:** Not mine! No money!

**Edit(s):** Bah! I'm so lame. More edits. I screwed up on ages. Sora and his friends are all supposed to be 14 going on 15. Had that figured out, but screwed it up somehow. Also made a decision on Mr. Ansem and I will now edit him into Mr. Xehanort

**Notes:** My Writing Muse, Theodore, is kinda going berserk these days. He just keeps throwing me these concepts that are REQUIRED to be written NOW! As a result, I've been a little slow to work on this one, so I apologize. I aim for 1nce a month to update, but I didn't quite make it this time.

**Warnings:** Gratuitous use of Disney and Square characters, language, at least one homosexual relationship, bigoted ass-holes, semi non-con encounters, made-up culture and language, lots of Blitzball, and general teen awkwardness. Enjoy!

-:-finem-:-

**Life on the Blitz**

**Chapter 3: **

**Of Confrontation and Confusion**

"It's official. Life hates me," Sora moaned dejectedly into his arm, which was currently resting on a pillow which happened to be at the head of the bed of one Roxas Capiz whose room Sora currently occupied.

"Oh you weren't that bad," Roxas said, idly throwing popcorn at Sora's head, seeing how much he could get stuck in the messy brown spikes before their owner took notice. "Hayner was way worse, and I seriously thought Jasmine was gonna hurl into her suit for a second there."

"Says the guy who managed to master swimming in the tank not 5 minutes after getting in. I don't get it. I've been swimming all my life, what's so different about having a suit on and doing it underwater?"

"Hey, don't be so hard on yourself. It's mainly the pressure. We haven't really started training our lungs for being that deep underwater so it takes a little bit to get your lungs strong enough to breathe normally. My uncle says that there's a lot of psychology to it too. It's like our brains know that we're not supposed to be able to be underwater for so long so they freak out for a little bit until we can force ourselves to get over it."

"And how exactly am I supposed to strengthen my lungs and get over it in the next two days before try-outs?" Sora groaned looking up and scattering popcorn across the room. Noticing the little puffs of corn and the oh too innocent look on his friend's face, Sora shook his head with vigor, proving his suspicions correct as a veritable storm of popcorn flew in all directions. Roxas fell over laughing and Sora glared.

"Go ahead! Mock me! You're not the one whose entire future is depending on getting on this freakin' team!" Sora rolled onto his back, staring up at the ceiling as his own words sunk in. He really had never considered the possibility of not getting onto the Blitzball team. He was good. He knew he was, but if he couldn't get over this thing with the tank, he was also very screwed. Maybe that Home Ec idea wasn't so lame after all.

Sensing Sora's change of mood and the growing black cloud forming over his head, Roxas sent a well aimed kernel of popcorn at his friend's forehead, calling Sora back from his thoughts.

"C'mon," he said actually consuming a couple of pieces of his snack. "We've only got 10 more problems left of Vexen's assignment. Let's finish those off and I'll take you out back."

"I don't think I trust those words coming from your mouth," Sora said looking at his friend suspiciously.

"Hey, when have I ever steered you wrong?" Roxas asked innocently, shooting Sora a dazzling smile. Of course Sora didn't trust that smile…knew never to trust that smile, but he didn't care enough at the moment to resist so instead, he rolled off the bed, crushing popcorn as he went and returned to his homework, which was on the floor beside Roxas.

"Whatever," he grumbled, and ignored the chuckle his response earned him.

-:- -:- -:-

_Maybe Roxas does actually know what he's talking about sometimes,_ Sora thought idly to himself as he lay floating in the pool. The only sound that reached him was the steady roar of water in his ears and all around him was blue. He was somewhere near the bottom of the deepest part of the Capiz swimming pool breathing through a rather comically long augmented snorkel that Roxas had apparently put together sometime in his youth.

"I was really bored one day," he'd said through the bathroom door while Sora changed into a borrowed pair of swim trunks. "Naminé was off at Art Camp and I was stuck at home with nothing to do all summer, so I figured I'd chill at the bottom of the pool for a while…see how long it took for someone to come looking for me. It's actually how I first got into Blitz. Uncle Ansem figured if I liked the pool so much, I might as well put the time to good use."

Sora chuckled inwardly at the image of a young Roxas laying at the bottom of the pool much like he was now. It was soothing in a way. The water was a pleasant pressure against his ears and body and the lack of distractions left him feeling calm. He reflected back on his visit with his mother the previous day and really felt a lot lighter all of a sudden. His concerns about school and Blitzball and what he had dubbed "The Riku Situation" all seemed rather stupid to him from under a pool full of water.

Thinking of Riku and the rumors that were still circulating did pull at something in Sora's head, though. It really was stupid for the Vice-Captain of their team to not be on speaking terms with one of his team members. Sora was certain that he'd make the team – there really was no other option as far as he was concerned – and he was also certain that he didn't deserve the hostile treatment he was receiving from random strangers, and if Riku really was the one spreading lies about him, he really did need to get that dealt with before things got too far.

While shy, awkward and sometimes a little strange, Sora really wasn't particularly fond of ignoring problems. He wasn't exactly king of confrontation, but he felt confident that if he approached the situation the right way, it wouldn't have to be confrontational. He'd just be a teammate having a quick chat with his Vice-Captain…who thought he was insane…and had sneered at him and told him he had no business even trying for the team after his performance in the tank. So what if things were a bit more complicated than he wanted them to be? That wouldn't keep him from trying.

Coming to this decision despite the flutter of anxiety it sent through his chest, Sora took a deep breath, removed the snorkel from his mouth and swam to the surface of the pool. Naminé had appeared while he was under and she and Roxas were sitting off to the side in one of the pool chairs talking quietly, looking up as he emerged.

"You were right," he said with a wide grin, gasping for air as his lungs readjusted to the lack of pressure surrounding them. "It was weird at first, but once I got my head around what was going on, I was able to relax. Can I come back tomorrow?"

Both of his friends were snickering slightly, Roxas' face red with the strain of not laughing outright and Naminé's red from an embarrassed blush.

'What?" Sora asked, looking down at himself to see what the big deal was and was horrified to find his borrowed trunks hanging dangerously low on his narrow hips, the beginnings of a downward trail of brown hair clearly visible for all to see. Face flaming so fast he swore he was probably instantaneously dry, Sora turned around to preserve some piece of his dignity, realizing too late that he only served to offer a view of his half exposed rear.

Roxas fell off of his chair laughing.

-:- -:- -:-

Things were a lot worse than Sora had been expecting when he arrived at school on Thursday. Apparently word had spread about his pathetic display in the Tank the previous day and this apparently only served to corroborate the rumors that he was just doing Blitzball to try and get in Tidus and Riku's good graces. But since Tidus didn't seem to have a problem with him, it all turned into a thing about Riku. Sora was obsessed with Riku. Sora was stalking Riku. And somehow, the little thing on Tuesday where Sora'd been spacing-out with his eyes in the general vicinity of Tidus' butt had transformed into Sora being madly in love with Riku and joining the Blitzball team just so that he could see Riku nekkid in the shower, and maybe corner him alone one day to have his crazy stalker way with him and…

"You've gotta be kidding!" he whined to Kairi who had just broken the news to him. He peeked through his fingers to see the openly hostile looks he was getting from some people, and the contemptuous headshakes he got from others. "There is no possible way that this many people care this much about something so stupid. Even if I were a psycho stalker, or flaming man-lover or something, it's not like it's anyone else's business."

"Well, Sora," Kairi began, a bit of hesitation in her voice. "It's not like there's no validity to some of the things they're saying."

"Not you too, Kairi. I thought you were on my side," Sora moaned dropping his hands and offering a desperate pout.

"I _am_ on your side which is why I'm telling you this." She guided him to one of the near-by planters and had him sit down facing her. Kairi leveled her eyes at him and Sora's brow creased with concern. Whenever Kairi got that look it meant that she was about to tell him something that he wasn't necessarily going to like but needed to be told for his own good.

"Look," she began. "You remember the beginning of Middle School, right? When Riku first moved to the island?" Sora nodded his head not quite following what she was getting at. "It was maybe two years after your dad's accident; remember?"

"Yes, Kairi," he said getting a little irritated, "I think I would remember my father's death."

"I know, I know," she said flushing a little and averting her eyes. "It's just...between coping with that and then the whole thing with your mom, a lot of us understood that you needed time to figure things out. You had always been quiet, and then you seemed to just shut down for a while, but I could see how you were trying once you started Middle School….trying to fit in and make friends and everything…"

"What does any of this have to do with what people are saying about me now?"

"Sora, do you not remember how you used to follow Riku around when he first came?" Sora blinked at her for all of five seconds before falling into a state of physiological confusion as his face tried to simultaneously flush and drain of all blood.

"P-people knew about that?!?!" he asked in horror. He was frantically trying to remember the first years of his Middle School life, wondering exactly what he had done and who might have witnessed it.

"You're not exactly the master of subtlety, Sora," Kairi told him resting a comforting hand on his shoulder, "and back then you used to really wear your emotions on your sleeves. I knew it was harmless, and most of the other people who knew you in elementary school and grew up around you and your mom and dad didn't really think anything of it, but can you imagine what that would look like to Riku?"

Sora's face finally settled on blush as he thought back to the time he had convinced himself he could talk to Riku and had followed him into the bathroom. No wonder Riku thought he was a freak. He had _been_ a freak! How could he have not realized that other people would notice stuff like that? He really thought that he'd been very careful in what he had been doing, but clearly—

Sora was pulled from his thoughts by Kairi's hands grabbing his face and smooshing so that his eyes crossed and lips puckered out.

"Sora," she said sternly, making sure he was looking her in the face. She could almost see his thoughts spiraling off in wild directions and she knew that she had to bring those thoughts to a halt before they got out of hand. "Don't freak out about this, okay? I understand. A lot of other people understand too, and in time, all of this will blow over. Right now, some people just see you as a potential threat to one of their idols."

"But I'w nowt wemotely thwea'ning," Sora said through distorted lips.

"And people will figure that out soon enough," she smiled at him and pinched his cheeks after releasing them. Sora swatted her hands away and rubbed at his cheeks a little disgruntled. "You're just harmless adorable Sora, future star of the JV Blitzball team."

"Not if my 'fans' have anything to say about it, apparently."

"Hey, look at it this way. You're only hearing these rumors because me and the others are telling you about them, right? You haven't had anyone actually confront you, right?"

"What about Axel? That was pretty confronty."

"That doesn't count, Axel and Riku have been friends since forever. It would've been weird if he _hadn't_ stepped in."

"Wait, how do you know that?" Sora asked, confused by his own ignorance of the things surrounding _his_ awkward situation.

"Everyone knows this, Sora," she said sighing and shaking her head with an amused smile, "you're pretty oblivious to a lot of stuff, y'know?" He glared a pout that said he was disgruntled because she was speaking the truth.

"Well people change. I'm not as awkward or oblivious as I used to be," he mumbled glumly.

"Don't I know it," Kairi said leaning in to offer a hug to her long time friend. "You're nothing like the scrawny, quiet little kid who stumbled into my first grad class 8 years ago. But try not to stress it too much. This is High School, remember? You're just the flavor of gossip for this week. It'll all blow over after you blow everyone out of the water at try-outs." Sora let out a gentle sigh as he pulled out of Kairi's arms.

"Thanks, Kai," he told her. "You always know what to say to make me feel better."

"Well, that's what best friends are for right?"

"Right," he said with a gentle smile.

"Alright," she said breaking the moment. "I've gotta grab some stuff from my locker before Homeroom. I'll see you at lunch or Nutrition, right?"

"Definitely," he said, and she smiled one last time before hurrying through the press of teenage bodies. He watched the masses for a moment, a little loathed to go back into them knowing that many of them would be watching him; passing judgment despite the fact that they didn't really know him at all. He rolled his eyes and sat back onto the planter.

The things that Kairi had told him changed everything. He definitely had to talk to Riku now if for nothing else to apologize and try to explain himself and his actions. There probably really was no chance of them getting to know each other as anything beyond teammates, but he still wanted to make sure that they could start the year off with everything clear. Running a hand through his spikes and pulling a little, Sora stood to get to his homeroom, formulating a plan of action as he went.

-:- -:- -:-

"So then technically you really are a stalker-freak," Hayner said, completely deadpan as they sat chatting, waiting for first period to begin.

"I don't know why I bother telling you guys anything," Sora sighed, rolling his eyes. He had just been telling Hayner, Tidus, and Roxas about the conversation he'd had with Kairi that morning hoping that they could give some insight on what he should do next. The accident that had claimed his father's life had been big news all through the islands. "Tourist boat vanishes off the coast of Destiny Islands" "17 missing and presumed dead." The incident had been covered for weeks as the search continued. Eventually, wreckage had been found, but no bodies were ever recovered.

The people who Sora had grown up around knew all about his family's loss, though few knew of his mother's subsequent breakdown. Since most people already knew about the accident, Sora had grown accustomed to bringing it up and having it brought up even though he still kept the details about his mother closely under wraps.

"Hey!" Roxas spoke up flicking a hand and giving Hayner a sharp whip with his fingers. "Don't group us with this idiot." Hayner shot him an indignant glare. "How do you want to handle it?" he asked, ignoring Hayner's protests at the idiot comment.

"I'm not really sure yet," Sora sighed. "I was thinking about talking to Wakka and seeing what he thinks since he is gonna be our captain and all. Plus, he's friends with Riku right? That should help. What do you think Tidus?" Sora asked turning to look at his other friend. "You know both of them better than any of us." Tidus shrugged.

"I don't know," he said, "Riku's weird. We get along ok I guess, but he doesn't really talk that much to people outside of his circle. Wakka says he cool, but you'd have to take his word for it."

"So then I guess I should talk to Wakka," Sora said with yet another sigh. If he kept this sighing up he'd likely start hyperventilating. "You know where he hangs out at lunch?"

"With Riku," Tidus informed him with a grin, "and a bunch of the other Bltzers. They're usually at the bleachers next to the Tank."

"That won't be awkward or anything," Sora muttered to himself imagining himself waltzing over to Riku's lunch spot uninvited and unannounced. That sure wouldn't make him look like even more of a stalker. Nope. Not at all. "Maybe I'll just wait and see if this blows over by next week. Things should calm down once we make the team, right?" His three friends shared somewhat incredulous looks leaving Sora slightly puzzled, as he didn't quite catch the shared thought.

"Sora," Hayner said, speaking for them all, "Sometimes it's hard to get how someone as dense as you made it this far in life." Sora's brows furrowed in confusion at the comment, but before he could reply, the bell rang marking the start of 1st period, and Ms. Gainsborough stood in front of the class.

Sora quickly turned to face the front of the room not wanting to earn another one of his teacher's maternal glares, but his mind was pondering anything but sentence structures and parts of speech. Kairi said he was oblivious, Hayner had just called him dense. These were the opinions of his closest friends. Sora's brow furrowed further. Oblivious and dense. Those two elements combined with High School did not make for very nice chemistry. If his friends were right, then he really was already very screwed for the rest of his High School life.

-:- -:- -:-

The first half of the day flew by quickly. They were assigned their first book in English, and started on proofs in Geometry. Sora and Roxas helped Hayner dodge Seifer and his crew at Nutrition, Sora actually agreed to help Jim on his mission in Science, and in Paopuan History, they got the very good news that starting the following week, they'd be alternating days with Mr. Xehanort and another teacher who would be teaching them traditional dances for the Exhibition.

"Dancing?" Pence whined after class. "What kind of dancing? I hate dancing!"

"It's native dancing, of course," Sora said with a smile, "And it's your heritage. You'll do fine."

"You knew about this from the beginning didn't you?" Pence said shooting Sora an accusing glare. Sora just smiled placidly. "You're a very evil person, you know that?"

"What? You guys talking about Vexen?" Roxas asked coming up from behind them out of the blue.

"No," Pence grumbled. "Just about Sora's tendency to withhold vital information." Sora gave his best innocent smile.

"No clue what you could be talking about, man," he said, and Pence proceeded to pout quite firmly at him before turning down the breeze way to his locker.

"What's he so grumpy about?" Roxas asked with a slightly raised eyebrow.

"The Student Exhibition coming up mid-year," Sora informed him with a laugh. "Apparently he's never seen one before and—" Both boys stopped dead in their tracks as the rounded the corner to their lockers. There were several students standing around whispering to each other with shocked expressions as they stared at the mess in front of them.

Pooled on the ground beneath Sora's locker was a thick, neon-green substance. There was a clear leakage trail from the bottom of his locker, already dry as it left a path down the locker under his. A thick swarm of ants were scrambling over the substance, crawling up the lockers and into the cracks. Sora didn't even want to know what the inside of his locker must look like. It was with a numb, curious sort of shock that he stepped to his locker, carefully avoiding the ants, lifting a hand to spin in his combo and see the extent of the damage. It was then that he noticed to sign taped to the front of his locker proclaiming:

STAY AWAY FROM RIKU FREAK!!

Sora reached up and ripped the note off of his locker with his left hand, spinning in his combo with his right. When he pulled his locker door open, a small amount of green liquid dripped from the door and his numb shock immediately transformed into numb horror. The green substance coated everything inside of his locker. All of his books were neon-green, swollen from the moisture and completely crawling with ants.

"What is this stuff?" Roxas asked in disgust, coming up beside Sora. He paused a moment, reaching out to touch at a clearing amongst the swarming ants and sniff at the substance on his finger. "Elixir," he said conclusively. Sora groaned, smacking a hand to his forehead. Elixir was an energy drink made up mostly of caffeine, sugar, and high fructose corn syrup. It was also a particular shade of green that could stain your tongue green for hours…and all of his books were soaking in it…covered in ants…

Something inside of Sora snapped and he found himself whipping around to stalk off towards the Tank where he knew he would find Riku. He was furious and looking for someone to pace blame upon for the destruction of his stuff, and in the end, it all came back to Riku. Riku who thought he was a stalker. Riku who thought that he had no business playing Blitzball. Riku who was turning out to be a major jerk now that Sora was getting to know more about him. He was pretty sure that the older boy wouldn't stoop to dirtying his own hands by doing something so juvenile, but he had started the whole rumor mess in the first place, so in the end, it all boiled back down to Riku.

Sora stormed up to the Silver hair boy as soon as he spotted him. He hesitated for just a moment, but Roxas stepped up beside him, offering silent support. That was all it took for Sora to move forward and chuck the now crumpled note from his locker at Riku's head.

"I hope you're happy," he bit out. Riku calmly looked down at the paper, which had come to a rest in his burger basket then looked up at Sora, eyes smoldering with a dangerous light.

"What the hell?" He hissed standing from his seat.

"That's our line, asshole," Roxas helpfully supplied from beside Sora.

"You've got some nerve showing your face over here, punk." Of course Axel was there, and he was rising from his seat next to a confused looking blonde boy to stand at Riku's side. "I thought I told you—"

"Stay out of this, Axel," Roxas snapped, and Sora was shocked to see the red-head actually back down. He made a mental note to ask about that later, but focused on the problem at hand as Riku stepped forward to loom over him.

"What do you want, freak? I thought I told you to stay away from me."

"Believe me," Sora growled, not at all intimidated by Riku's height advantage. "I'd love nothing better than to forget you even exist, except there seems to be the small matter of your big mouth screwing me over!"

"What the hell are you talking about?" Riku asked looking at Sora like a particularly large and juicy insect that had come in contact with his speeding windshield. "Start making sense or go the hell away."

"I'm talking about you telling the world that I'm some kind of stalker!" Sora was almost shaking with fury. "The entire school is saying crazy stuff about me, and now, one of your _actual_ psycho fans thought it would be a great idea to dump an entire case of _Elixirs_ in my locker! My books are ruined! How am I supposed to do my schoolwork now!? Do you have any clue how much it's gonna cost me to replace all of that stuff!? Do you even care that you're the one who started this?! WHAT ARE YOU LAUGHING AT?!?!" As Sora had been ranting, Riku had begun snickering, shooting amused looks at his friends all the while.

"So, let me get his straight," he said still snickering. "You're both crazy, _and_ poor?" Sora saw red. Was he actually being mocked for needing to worry about money?

"That's it!" Roxas was stepping forward in a rage, ready to rip into Riku with everything he had. Sora wasn't sure how much harm he could do considering Riku's clear physical advantage and the fact that Axel would probably step in too, but he felt somehow comforted knowing that his friend was willing to take the chance for his sake. And oddly, Sora noticed that Axel wasn't doing anything to intervene anyway. _Guess it's up to me._ He flung out a hand halting his friend's kamikaze assault.

"He's not worth it, Roxas," he said, never taking his eyes off of the sneer on Riku's face. He couldn't believe he'd ever felt any kind of connection to this guy. "Y'know, Riku, I really am sorry about Middle School. I honestly meant no harm in trying to get to know you, but I'm even more sorry that I wasted the time thinking that you were actually worth the effort." Sora was pulling Roxas and turning to go when Riku spoke again.

"Listen, freak show," he sneered, "I still don't know what you think I did to you, but just so you know, I have better things to do with my time than spread rumors about the random nutcases who are obsessed with me, so don't go blaming me if some other psycho has it in for you." The rage that had been calming quickly flared back up in Sora's chest.

"You really don't get it, do you?" he hissed, staring down the older boy. "Even if you aren't running around telling people lies, it was you snapping at me in front of half the school that started this. All I wanted was to talk—"

"I don't make a habit of talking to stalkers."

"For the last time I am NOT a freakin' STALKER!! And maybe if you would actually talk to people instead of being such a stuck-up, selfish DICK, people wouldn't have to resort to stalking to get to know you! ASS!"

With that, Sora turned on his heel and stalked off. Roxas shot a parting glare at Riku before turning to follow his friend.

-:- -:- -:-

Awkward Blitz practices were becoming a norm and it was still only the first week of school. The scene between Riku and Sora at lunch time had spread through the school like wild fire as well as the story about his locker and by the time he got to the end of the day, he was receiving noticeable smiles of approval from some, encouraging pats on the back from others and all out death glares from a surprising few. He did his best to ignore Riku through practice as they drilled passes and swam laps and did everything they'd done all week in preparation for try-outs, but through it all, Sora swore that he could feel Riku's eyes on him, waiting for him to look. Sora made a point not to.

After their little fight, Sora had returned to his locker only to find that someone had already come and rinsed everything, leaving what was left of his books in a soggy, green pile on the ground. He'd gone to talk to Leon who said he'd see what he could do, but unless his counselor could pull some strings, Sora would be stuck paying for everything that had been in his locker. They had all been new books for the most part, which meant that they would be ridiculously expensive to replace. Considering how Sora hadn't even officially started working at his new job yet, and how even when he did, he'd just be getting by on his wages, textbooks really weren't something within his budget.

Coming out of his thoughts, Sora looked around and realized that his practice partner was nowhere to bee seen. Groaning inwardly he took a breath, diving underwater just in time to catch a pass that would have crushed his still developing manhood. He hadn't been so lucky the first time she had tried that.

He broke the surface still holding the ball and shot Paine a scathing glare. After everything that had happened already, he was completely not in the mood for her games.

"Are you this bitchy to everyone?" he asked incredulously, "or do you just have it in for me like the rest of the school?!" It took a moment for Sora to realize what he had just said and to whom, and kicked himself resoundingly when he did. As if he didn't have enough issues on this team without making an enemy of goth-girl. There was a tense moment of silence during which Sora imagined that Paine was plotting exactly how many pieces she would cut his body into and how much of it she would feed to him before he died…but to his shock, a very small smirk pulled at the side of her mouth.

"Make the team and find out for yourself," She said before diving underwater and somehow tackling him from behind. He managed to hold onto the ball but just barely and before he had much time to think about their strange little interlude, he was dodging tackles and aiming shots at their practice goal.

When 2:30 swung around, they were all called out of the pool as usual for final words from the Coaches. Coach Auron was looking at them all impassively as ever, clipboard tucked under his arm.

"You all have worked hard this week," He began looking at each of the guppies he'd trained that summer. "In a couple of days, this will all be over, and whether or not you make the team, the rest of your year will truly begin. You've honed your individual skills as best you could this week, and Saturday, we'll see what you've learned put into action. For those of you who aren't satisfied with your performance yesterday, you'll have another shot at the tank tomorrow. I'll be with the Varsity team, but I'll be at try-outs on Saturday to score you along with Coach Clayton. Show us what you're made of. Good luck."

With that, the group of gathered teenagers broke, guppies heading for the locker room and JV heading back to the pool. Sora sighed in relief that he'd have another chance to figure out his Game Suit and swim in the tank. He was already going back to Roxas' house to practice in his pool again and hopefully, after another pool session, he'd be able to manage swimming and controlling his movements better than he had on Wednesday.

Feeling better than he had since finding his gooey green locker, Sora turned to head into the boys locker room, but before he did, something caught his eye. He turned to see a few of the JV guys standing together and snickering…apparently at him. Looking at them with a confused raised eyebrow, he noted that Bickson, the jerk from Tuesday, was at the center of the group, and as soon as Sora had looked at them, Bickson was shooting him a scathing glare that left Sora even more confused than he already was.

"I'd watch out for that one if I were you Sora." Sora jumped at the voice that was suddenly speaking in his ear. He looked over to see Meg smirking at him.

"What?" he asked flicking his eyes back over to the now retreating group of older boys.

"I said you should watch out for Bickson. I think he likes you,"

"_WHAT?!?!"_ He had to have heard that wrong. "You can't be serious, he's the one who looked like he was gonna hurl all over me when he thought I was looking at Tidus' butt."

"You were, checkin' out Tidus' ass?" she smirked and Sora opened his mouth to explain but she just laughed at him. "Not like I care if you were. He has a nice ass. I stare at it all the time." Sora was mildly scandalized by this, but returned to the previous topic.

"Well I don't even know if I swing that way anyway, and with the looks he's been shooting me I think he's more likely trying to figure out how he could get away with skinning me alive." Meg laughed out right at this, using Sora's shoulder to steady herself.

"Oh, honey!" she gasped. "You are _so_ adorably clueless! You don't get any more C cubed than that one!"

"C cubed?" he asked completely confused.

"Yes. C cubed. C to the third. Triple C," she paused expectantly and rolled her eyes when Sora still didn't get it. "Classic Closet Case, babe. Bickson is as flamin' as they come whether he realizes it or not. He gives even Riku a run for his money."

"Wait, Riku's gay?" Sora asked, eyes widening.

"Oh, yeah," she said patting Sora on the shoulder with a shake of her head. "He may not look it on the outside, but his attention definitely strays away from us womanly types and towards the thicker skulled of the species. Same for Bickson, only he won't admit it to himself. So watch yourself, cutie. If he's shooting you death glares that probably means he's hot for you." She gave a parting wink before vanishing into the girl's locker room leaving Sora quite thoroughly confused. It was a feeling he was getting pretty used to.

"What took you so long!?" Yuffie called when Sora finally made it out of the locker room. She was standing with Tidus, Hayner and Roxas, waiting for him.

"Sorry," he said, eyeing her with some of his ever-present confusion. "Didn't realize you were waiting for me, Yuffie. You never did before."

"Yeah, well you never told Riku off in front of half the Varsity Blitz team before!" she told him, giving a firm slap on the back. "C'mon, I want details!" Sora stared at her for a moment trying to comprehend what he had just heard. Did she just say that his little confrontation with Riku had been witnessed by…members of the Varsity Blitz team? Yuffie was still staring at him expectantly but Sora swiftly turned on Tidus.

"You didn't tell me he hung out with the _Varsity_ team!" he wailed, shaking his friend. "I just made an ass of myself in front of all the people I'm supposed to be trying to impress this year! You could've warned me!"

"Hey! Lay off!" Tidus said with a grin as he pried Sora's fingers from his shirt. "How was I supposed to know that you were gonna go ape shit on him? Besides, I don't know what you're so worked up about. The fastest way to get on the team's good side is to show them you've got guts, and dude, you don't get much gutsier than calling one of the most influential kids on this island a dick and an ass."

"You didn't!" Yuffie squealed. "Oh, I wish I could have seen the look on his face!"

"It was priceless," Roxas piped in since it seemed Sora wasn't going to join the conversation. "He just stood there staring like someone had shoved a carp in his mouth or something." Hayner found that description particularly funny. "To be honest, I didn't think Sora would go through with it, but you should have seen the way he laid into the asshole. People are gonna be talking about this one forever…"

Sora walked beside his group of friends as they continued talking about what he had done at lunch. Tidus' words were sinking in. Riku's family did own…a lot of stuff. What if he was right? What if Riku really was pissed enough to bring the wrath of his family down upon him. Everything else rushed by in his mind and he dwelt on that one thought.

_What have I done?_

-:- -:- -:-

Friday was like a very surreal dream. A dream in which everyone who had been whispering about him or shooting him secret looks of curiosity and irritation had suddenly decided to send him reassuring nods and looks of respect. Half the kids in his classes offered to let him borrow their books, others sneeringly offered him cans of Elixir, and all in all Sora was left, as always, very confused.

Blitz practice at least had gone as expected. He was amazed at how much his time in Roxas' pool had helped him and when he donned his Game Suit and dove into the tank, Sora felt his confidence return. He was finally getting how to use the buoyancy controls to help him swim, and the swimming part was coming easier as well. Adapting to the suit was the hard part. Everything else he already had covered. He was good at this game and the coaches would be fools not to let him on the team.

As he had pulled himself out of the water and headed with the others to the locker room, Sora had gotten the uncomfortable feeling that he was being watched, and after a short search, his eyes fell on Bickson, behind him, whose blue eyes were no friendlier than they had ever been. The older boy coolly walked towards him, a sneer twisting his features, and as he'd brushed by, Sora heard him quietly growl something that made him freeze where he was.

"No way a faggot like you is making this team."

Run program: Confusion.exe

Last time Sora checked, he hadn't made and decisions or declarations about his preferences. The guy couldn't really be holding that whole Tidus' butt thing as solid evidence that Sora was gay. He hadn't even really been looking. And if what Meg said was true, and Bickson was gay, then what was the problem? Why the hostility? And why towards Sora? Riku was apparently gay too and in Sora's opinion, he was _much_ more deserving of the harassment. _But his dad could crush anyone with the snap of a finger,_ he reflected glumly, _and I don't even have a mom to complain to the school office._

After practice Sora had gone back to Roxas' house again along with Hayner, and Tidus had gone off with some of his other friends. He'd stayed over until about 7 then headed home to prepare for the big day. After a week that seemed to drag on for months, tryouts were finally here! Sora could barely comprehend all that had happened in just 5 short days, but rehearsal was over, and it was time for the real show.

Sora made sure to get to the school early so that he would have plenty of time to warm up and get his head in the right state of mind. This was the day that would make or break the rest of his life, and he was not about to let jitters ruin it for him. Everything else was inconsequential. Riku, Bickson, the friends he hoped would make the team, the knowledge that some of them would not…he pushed all of it aside as he stepped into the locker room and headed for his locker.

"You're early, Holani," Sora looked up as Coach Auron approached him from the doorway leading to the pool. "We weren't expecting anyone other than the captains for another half hour. _They_ aren't even in yet."

"I like to have time to prepare, sir," Sora told him with a confident smile.

"A man who knows his own needs," Coach said with a small nod of the head. "I like that. Make sure you're ready when the time comes. You've worked hard to make it here, Sora. Let's see what it all was for."

With those parting words, Coach Auron made his way back to the Coaches' office and Sora proceeded to change out of his clothes and into his pool pants before pulling out his game gear. He grabbed his swimmers, water gloves, knee and elbow pads and checked them all over to make sure they we still in functioning condition. With everything that had happened that week, Sora was not taking any chances.

He picked up and examined one of his worn swimming shoes. Swimmers were light weight slightly finned water shoes used commonly for Blitzing. They weren't as bulky or cumbersome as full-out fins, but they gave just a bit of added kick in the water to offer a speed advantage over anyone who wasn't wearing them. Sora had had his swimmers for a couple of years now which meant that he really was in need of a new pair. Maybe if he owned one of the nicer brands of shoes, Aquastrides, or even Treadmasters would be nice, but his sad little Pro-Fins were barely holding together and the last thing he needed was his swimmers falling apart while he was swimming.

He checked over his water gloves next, making sure that all of the webbing between the lower part of the fingers was still intact, then his pads, which were still adjusted to fit him perfectly. That was everything. Now, he just had to go grab his borrowed Game Suit. Hopefully, by Monday, it would be his permanent suit for the rest of the year.

He heard Wakka and Riku's voices drifting through the room as he made his way to the Coaches' office where the Game Suits were stored. Both sounded relaxed and calm, and why shouldn't they be? They were here to judge just as the rest of the JV team would be. It was Sora and the other guppies who had reason to worry and stress, but Sora didn't bother. His confidence didn't falter at all as he located his suite on the rack and pulled his battery pack from its charging unit. _I've got this in the bag,_ he thought with a smile as he heading back to his locker and pulled his suit on over the thin shorts they all wore under their suits.

Shutting his locker and making sure that it was sealed and locked, Sora headed to the pool to do some warm up laps. He swam with long lazy strokes, focusing on waking his muscles and not tiring them out. After a little bit of time, he was joined by others, but he didn't pay much attention to who. His focus was on preparing himself and making sure that he did the best that he could that day…that is of course until someone pounced on him from above ripping him completely from his happy place.

Sora broke the surface sputtering and coughing trying to imagine who in their right mind would pull something like that when he heard the peels of laughter ringing out near him and from somewhere above him.

"Tidus!?" he asked incredulously as he finally got a look at the laughing boy next to him in the water.

"Sorry, man," he said, but seeing as he was still laughing so hard he could barely speak, Sora didn't believe he was very sorry at all, "They dared me to." Sora looked up at the other two laughing figures standing at the lip of the pool and glared daggers at Hayner and Roxas.

"Hey, you were looking way too serious," Hayner said with a wide grin. "This is supposed to be fun, remember?"

"Yeah, and I also remember that I'm totally screwed if I don't make this team."

"Oh stop being such a drama queen," Tidus said with a playful push from his side. "The four of us are easily the best players out of all the n00bs. I mean you guys can keep up with me, and that's saying something," Sora, Roxas, and Hayner all rolled their eyes at this. "Just play like you did during camp, wow everyone with a trick shot, and you're in. No problem."

"Right, cuz I really need you to tell me that," Sora said returning Tidus' shove from earlier.

"Careful, Sora," Hayner joked, "In a second your head's gonna be a big as Tidus'." He took a dive into the pool, resurfacing with a grin.

"As if that were possible," Roxas said following suit. They warmed-up together, joking and working with the other guppies in the pool for the next 10 minutes, and then Coach Clayton was blowing a whistle to let them know that the first part of try-outs was about to begin.

"As you all should know by now, team try-outs will take place half here and half in the tank. First we will test your general swimming ability. We'll be doing speed and endurance trials here followed by tests of your skills in the Tank. Things will end with a game where you will all work side by side with the rest of the JV team who will be showing up later. Your captains are here as well to be extra eyes," he said gesturing at Riku and Wakka who were standing off to the side. "From this point on, you are all on trail. Don't disappoint." And with that, try-outs had begun.

As Coach Clayton had said, Speed trails were first up and Sora had no concerns about that. Both Tidus and Yuffie had some speed on him, but he was easily one of the fastest swimmers among the guppies. Endurance wasn't bad either and he'd been training for weeks now he could easily pull a good two laps at full speed before even beginning to tire. The pool was the easy part. It was the tank that loomed ahead offering shadows and doubt.

It took less than an hour to get done with the pool portion of try-outs and Sora couldn't help noticing the strange looks Riku was sending his way as he successfully completed each of the trials, excelling easily beyond several of the other players. Rather than try to interpret the looks, Sora chose to ignore them and stay focused on the task at hand. They were given a twenty minute break to rest up before the second half of trials began. The team made their way steadily to the tank, climbing the stairs to the top and waiting for their Coaches and captains to take their places in the announcer's box before getting in.

"Alright," Coach Auron's voice sounded through the PA system. "First up, we're testing your general swimming ability in the tank. A couple of you were looking pretty sloppy on Wednesday, so lets see what progress you've made so far." Sora noted that Jasmine was looking a little gray behind her facemask and reached out to put a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

"Relax," he told her with a smile. "Think too much and you'll freak yourself out." She offered a grateful smile, though she still didn't look any more confident, but then a buzzer was sounding and time was up. All ten prospective Blades took a breath and dove into the oxygen rich water of the tank.

Sora felt the difference immediately. Wednesday, there had been near panic when he first got into the water, doubt on the reliability of the suit's systems filling his mind instantly. It had taken the better part of the hour for him to even get into a normal stroke pattern for swimming. Friday had been better, the nerves calmed significantly by his time in Roxas' pool. Swimming hadn't been a problem. This time, there was no fear. He had complete confidence in his ability and the functionality of his suite and a sort of elation filled him as he kicked strongly across the playing field, even managing to use his buoyancy controls to aid in speedy dives and quick ascents.

After about 10 minutes of free swimming, another buzzer sounded through the pool alerting the swimmers to surface again.

"Next up is pass and catch accuracy," Coach Auron's disembodied voice sounded through the area. "Listen up for your teams." Tidus, Sora, Meg, Yuffie, and Hayner were sorted into one team, while Roxas, Rikku, Jasmine and the two Juniors who were trying for the team, Biggs and Wedge, were placed on the other. Tidus' team was up first. Sora sank back beneath the surface of the water along with the others in his group while the rest of the guppies climbed out of the pool to wait. They would stay up top rather than going to the viewing seats, so they wouldn't be able to get a very clear view of how the others did in their trials.

The group had done the drill several times during the weeks leading up to try-outs and fell easily into the toss catch pattern that started off the routine as a warm up. At another buzzer, the group broke up, one player swimming towards the far side of the tank. The person with the Blitzball went to the front of the line while the rest of the players lined up behind. Sora watched holding the spare ball as Meg aimed her shot at Tidus' swimming form which was a good 10 yards away. The shot was a little off, but Tidus managed to dive and capture the ball swimming to the back of the line as Meg made her swim out and Sora took his place at the front of the line.

When Meg got to the 10 yard mark, she turned and Sora threw the ball unerringly towards her and she caught the pass with ease. Sora swam out next turning in time to catch a pass sent to him by Yuffie. The drill continued, each pass getting longer and longer as the group cycled through. Sora was pleased to say that his accuracy was pretty good up to 30 yards, but beyond that…things got a bit sketchy. The drill was meant to test both pass and catch accuracy, so if a pass was thrown wide, the catcher was still expected to try to catch the ball, and by the end very few passes were caught, some not even making it the full target distance.

A buzzer sounded through the water notifying the group that it was time to trade out and let the other five guppies into the Tank. Sora emptied the chambers of his BC and felt the slight shift as the air filled pockets assisted in his rise to the surface of the tank. He noticed other bodies swimming down as the rest of the group took their positions, and was a bit surprised to find that there were others waiting at the top platform. The familiar faces of the JV team took shape before him as he hauled himself out of the water.

"You were looking pretty good in there, Sora," David, JV's lead Defender said helping Sora out of the water. "You're pretty quick. What position are you going for?"

"Forward," Hayner said before Sora could answer. He was already out of the water, facemask hanging against his chest. "Me and Roxas told him that Defender was the way to go, but he's got dreams of being the next Jecht Mihana or something."

"Do not!" Sora protested pulling his face free of his own mask and looking up at David with a broad smile. David was one of the older JV players. There had only been so many spots open on the Varsity team, and not all of those who tried for it got in. David seemed cool about it though despite the fact that his girlfriend, Nani had made Varsity where he hadn't and despite the fact that Nani's kid brother and another sophomore had made captain where he hadn't even been asked. David just seemed laid back like that, and Sora liked him for it. "I just prefer scoring over tackling. I'll leave the terrorizing to you guys."

"Offense," David said shaking his head and giving a friendly smack and shake to Sora's shoulder. "Speed like that, you'd be a nightmare to the other team. You sure I can't persuade you to D?"

"Too late for that," a voice sneered from somewhere behind David. The three teens looked over to see Bickson glaring and walking toward them. "I bet this little queer goes home and beats off thinking about Mihana's D up his ass every night." Two of the guys Sora had seen Bickson with the day before snickered at the remark.

"Dude, what the fuck is your problem!?" Hayner started forward angrily but Sora held him back, glaring calmly at the older redhead. Bickson was a junior just like David, but he apparently hadn't taken his failings as lightly. Sora had watched him in practice. He was Yuffie's practice partner and he was a total ass to her. It was a good thing the girl had so much natural ability because she would have been completely lost otherwise. If it weren't for the fact that both captains had the power to get him booted from the team, he probably wouldn't listen to anything they told him. Even still, he was a royal pain in the team's collective ass and came complete with supportive lackeys to egg him on.

It seemed Bickson was serious about not wanting Sora on the team, and it looked like he was trying to pick a fight to get Sora in trouble, but Sora would have nothing of it. He could feel the eyes of everyone on deck watching the scene as it unfolded.

"Look, Bickson," Sora began, and Bickson sneered in disgust rolling his eyes. Sora sighed and pressed on. "I don't know what your issue is with me, what I did to make you hate me so much, and really, I don't care. All I'm sayin' is that whatever problems are between us, had better stay out of the tank. Like Coach says, the tank ain't a toilet, so leave the crap outside. Whether you like it or not, there's a good chance that we're gonna be teammates come Monday." There was a tense moment of silence, during which Sora congratulated himself for managing to stay so calm. He was seriously freaked out in all reality.

"Look, _fag,_ and figure this out quick." Bickson went so far as to poke Sora roughly in the chest as he spoke. "Don't even think that you're get any play if you're in my line. You're a freak, a little shit, and if I had my way, I'd flush you out of this tank with all the rest of the disgusting garbage. If I ever catch you staring at me or my crew, I'm gonna kick your ass. If you ever come near me, I'm gonna kick your ass. If I ever hear the slightest rumor that you might have been checking me out or checking-out anyone I know, I'm gonna kick your ass." With one more lethal glare, Bickson spun on his heel to join his other friends, who shot Sora glares of their own.

"Ok, that time I _seriously_ didn't do _anything_." Sora said turning to his friends who had gathered near him to offer aid should the need arise.

"C cubed and hating it," Meg said leaning an elbow on Sora's shoulder with a sad shake of her head. Several of the gathered players nodded their agreement.

"His dad's a complete asshole," Yuffie supplied from Sora's left, "total gay-basher. I think he's jealous."

"Of me?" Sora stared at her incredulously.

"Well yeah," she said giving him a patient look. "I mean you waltz in here all tiny and adorable, buddy-buddy with _the_ Tidus Mihana, catching the attention of Riku Anakhuli and half the school without even trying. Hell, I'm even a little jealous." Sora stared at her completely flabbergasted. _WiggityWHAT?!?_

"Not to mention the fact that you seem to have no qualms about your sexuality where he'd probably get the living shit beat out of him if anyone even hinted at him swinging for the other team." Meg added smiling at him

"Wait, what?" Sora was now settling comfortably into his usual state of confusion.

"Aren't you gay? You never denied it," she said, and Sora felt his face flush. Why was she asking such a personal question in front of the entire team?

"What? N-no, I don't know," and why was it so hard to come up with a straight response? "I've never really dated anyone," he admitted awkwardly, "so I just…don't really know what my preferences would be, y'know?"

"You don't have to date to know," the soft-spoken Goalkeeper, Mulan, offered kindly placing a comforting hand on Sora's shoulder. "Just think of who you tend to be attracted to." Sora felt completely lost now. He'd never really been attracted to anyone before as anything other than friends.

"Hey lighten up!" Tidus appeared from somewhere placing strong hands on Sora's shoulders and squeezing. "We don't really care if you are or not."

"Paine is," Yuna, one of the JV Forwards, offered from Tidus' side, and Sora quickly caught sight of his practice partner who shot him a small two fingered salute and a smirk. "And our Rikku, and everyone's pretty sure the other Riku is, too."

"And about half the Varsity team is about as queer as you can get," Tidus added as an after thought. "Generally speaking, most people around here don't seem to care all that much. They mind their own business I guess."

"Yeah well I wish Bickson would learn to do that," Sora muttered dejectedly as the buzzer sounded ending the second round of pass and catch accuracy trials. They would get a small break and then it would be back into the tank for real game play with the rest of the JV team. About 2 hours had passed since they had started. The joint game was the last part of try-outs. This would be the last chance Sora would have to shine for the judges. Brain full of other, more confusing and irritating things, he set off to grab a quick drink of water and prepare himself for what was to come.

-:- -:- -:-

_Stupid son of a…_

Sora kicked viciously at a rock in his path sending it flying across the street.

_Whoring worthless piece of…_

This time an abandoned aluminum can was the victim of his wrath and he sent it flying yards ahead of him, laying in wait to take more punishment once he reached it again.

_Rotting douche-bag jerk-faced…_

"BASTARD!!!" Sora finally growled out, doing his best to hold back his fury as his hopes, dreams and entire future seemed to be crumbling right in front of him. The last part of try-outs had been hideous. There wasn't even a word in existence to accurately express the level of bad that had been reached.

Of course, as luck would have it, since the captains were judging with the Coaches, different Midfielders were selected to lead the teams and wouldn't you know it? Sora somehow ended up on Bickson's team. Sora did his best to ignore the rage filled glares shooting towards him from his temporary team captain, but it was hard to shake. That hadn't been the worst part, though. Two of Bickson's buddies, Gravv and Abus, were Defenders for the opposite team. That meant that any time one of his team mates would get the ball to him, Sora would immediately be crushed between two large bodies, fumbling the ball and almost sinking, completely stunned, to the bottom of the pool. If it weren't for the fact that he knew that movement was the key to keeping the Game Suit functioning and that doing so would lead to his watery death, Sora would have just floated at the bottom of the tank, unmoving, until the game had finished.

Suffice it to say, his involvement in the game had been minimal at best.

He should have known… he really should have known that it would be useless for him to even try getting around the other boys hatred. He should have know that Bickson wouldn't leave personal crap out of the tank, and now, he'd completely failed in the practical element of Blitzing which meant that he might as well have not shown up to try-outs at all.

He'd left immediately after being dismissed not bothering to wait for his friends. He had to catch a bus anyway. Now as he walked down the narrow path that would lead to the bustling downtown district of Destiny Island, all Sora could think of was how he wanted to go home and bury his head in his pillow and never come out. But no…he had to work. With the realization that sometimes, crap happens, Sora understood now better than ever the importance of earning money and even saving some of it for emergencies. He rounded the corner coming off his path and stared dejectedly at his place of work.

_Black Pearl Aquatic Wares_

Groaning inwardly and forcing a somewhat less homicidal look onto his face, Sora looked both ways before crossing the busy intersection. The streets were teeming with people in garish bright colors and tropical patterns, all of them with pockets full of tips for the right sales associate. Sora knew that if he wanted to earn anything on top of his hourly wages on his first day, he'd have to pull out some of his finest, fakest smiles.

He reach out to open the door and let himself into the water-sports accessory store, staring at the shelves of Blitzball swimmers, water-gloves, snorkels, fins, and other sports equipment. There seemed to be a rather large crowd gathered around, several voices rising in anger and irritation. Sora could hear a familiar slur of speech and waded into the crowd knowing that Jack, one of the stores owners was at the center somewhere.

"I do understand your concern, madam," Sora heard, "but you see, until my manager returns I really just can't help you." Sora was really starting to wonder what was going on. Jack owned the place and ran every aspect of it with his partners Will and Elizabeth. There shouldn't have been anything that he couldn't have fixed himself, so what was with the 'manager' business. Sora didn't have time to ponder this further as he was spotted by his new boss.

"Sora!" Jack exclaimed excitedly then lowered his voice as if chastising himself. "_Mr._ Sora, that is." Jack reached out a hand and dragged Sora through the crowd, through the tiny employee door in the counter, and hauled him behind the register.

"Jack, what's going on?" Sora asked anxiously, eyeing the oddly bright red faces of the people beyond the register

"Yes, well, you see…Mr. Sora sir. It seems that one…_or_ _two or three_ of our shipments of sunscreen may have been just a wee bit…expired." Sora snapped his head to the side to stare at Jack in horror. All of these people had been sold faulty sunscreen? No wonder they were all so pissed. "But no worries mate," Jack told him with a small wink that set Sora's stomach diving through the ground. _He wouldn't dare._ "Seeing as you're manager and all, I'm sure you'll have no problem…managing." He made a sort of vague motion with his hands in the general direction of the crown of angry customers and before Sora could even react, he had vanished through a door that was behind the counter, leaving Sora to stare after him in complete shock. Turning in terror back to the sea of angry red, Sora wondered exactly which deity it was he had pissed off and how.

-:- -:- -:-

**Author Notes:**

Dude…finally! Why did it take so long to get to frigging try-outs?

I'm rather proud of myself. A whole lot happened in this chapter. It's rather pivotal without me even meaning it to be. I was gonna go for a more subtle approach with the whole Bickson thing, but then I decided that subtle is a bit overrated. Screw subtle, I'm just gonna tell the frickin' story and see how it all plays out in the end.

I apologize for the edits. They're totally minor now, but will be rather important later on in the story probably, so bear with me as I'm still working out details.

Some things of note

"But I'w nowt wemotely thwea'ning," – "But I'm not remotely threatening" for those who were wondering about that.

Money:

At present, this universe doesn't have a currency. I don't want to use munny because I'm aiming for a feel that is altogether _not_ video game, but I don't want to go with a real currency either because that would ground things in the real world and that's not quite right either. So I've decided that I just won't use a unit of currency, so if things involving money seem to be a bit awkwardly written, that's why.

Pro-Fins:

So does anyone else have memories of Pro-Wings? The cheapest of the cheap Payless shoes that people would be teased relentlessly for wearing because it meant that they were dirt poor? Yes, I owned Pro-wings in my childhood, and yes, Pro-Fins are a play on Pro-Wings.

Aquastrides:

My little nod to Uzumaki-sama because she's cool. I took this shoe brand from her story A Complete 180 with permission of course, and I've now given credit where credit is due.

Swimming:

So, I don't swim, I don't dive, and basically everything in this story about swimming and diving I'm pulling out of my bum. If there are ppl out there with actual experience and first hand knowledge about this stuff out there who see errors, feel free to correct me. I'll thank you for helping me keep some form of accuracy in this story.

So here you are everybody. Chapter 3. Sorry for the delay, if you have any comments, questions, concerns, anything at all, please let me know by leaving a **review**.


	5. Ch 4: Blitz Bashin'

**Standard Disclaimer:** Not mine! No money!

**Edit(s):** None! Me FTW!!!

**Notes:** My beta is currently at Anime Expo, and since I didn't wanna leave you all hanging for another week, I'm putting this out un-beta'd. I apologize for any massive errors. I did my best to self-edit, but shoot me a message if you catch any major continuity errors.

**Warnings:** Gratuitous use of Disney and Square characters, language, at least one homosexual relationship, bigoted ass-holes, semi non-con encounters, made-up culture and language, lots of Blitzball, and general teen awkwardness. Enjoy!

-:-finem-:-

**Life on the Blitz**

**Chapter 4: **

**Blitz Bashin'**

So work wasn't a complete bust in the end. Sora had definitely been in over his head for a bit there after Jack ditched out on him, but before long someone in the front finally noticed his scared puppy expression and took pity on him. The woman got all of the people to quiet down and spoke to Sora kindly, for which he was eternally grateful. As he was explaining to everyone that it was his first day on the job and he had no clue what the heck was going on, Jack had reappeared with Will and Elizabeth in tow, both looking extremely irritated at their third partner.

"Jack, we _told_ you those cases were to be dumped!" Will hissed. "What were you thinking having it stocked and sold, _and then_ leaving our newest employee _alone_ in a shop of angry customers?!?!"

"Well sunscreen being sunscreen and all I figured it would do it's job of screenin'. How was a mate to know it would be a lazy git and stop screenin' what it was supposed to screen? I mean, we were out of sunscreen and there were so conveniently placed those lovely cases. Had I not acted, we could have lost valuable income!

"Income?!" Elizabeth scoffed as she shoved her way behind the counter. Sora noticed that she was wearing only a swimsuit, sandals, and one of the light swimsuit cover dresses that many tourists often sported. It looked like Jack had interrupted a day off for the couple. "Jack, do you realize that word will spread about this and people will stop coming here because they're going to think we sell faulty products? You might have just ruined us!" After this, Sora was gently pulled aside and into a back room by Will while Elizabeth addressed the crowd of lobster-red tourists in the store.

"Sora, are you alright?" Will asked concern in his eyes. Sora offered an awkward grin scratching the back of his head.

"I guess so," he said honestly. "I mean it's not like they would've gotten violent or anything. For once the fact that I look like I'm 12 came in handy." Will smiled at this, giving Sora a friendly pat on the shoulder.

"Glad to hear it. We usually have another worker here on weekends, but he called in sick today. Elizabeth and I were taking a bit of time off this week; should have known better than to leave this place to Jack alone."

"I resent that," Jake spoke up. Sora hadn't even noticed that he had entered the room with them.

"You're in no position to argue the matter," Will told him with a glare. "Now if you'll excuse us, I'm going to teach Sora how to count in and use the register."

After that, things went rather smoothly. Sora was given his uniform, which consisted of a black and white horizontally striped shirt, a red vest and whatever bottoms he happened to be wearing. The store had a pirate theme…completely Jack's idea. He was a bit sketchy with the register, but Will and Elizabeth were there now to come to his rescue if he ever got too stuck, and most people were pretty nice, returning his friendly smile with smiles of their own and often dropping cash into the tip box next to the register. It was enough to make Sora almost forget about the crappiness of his try-out that morning, but during lulls in customers, his thoughts would inevitably fall back to Blitzball and he would feel his spirits falling further and further.

"You seem a bit down, mate," Jack said during one such lull, "you're not still sore at me about earlier are you now?"

"What, you mean how you ran away ditching me in the middle of _your_ mess?" Jack had the decency to look a bit ashamed of himself. "Much as I'd be perfectly entitled to stay pissed at you forever," he gave a small glare for good measure, "this isn't about you."

"Well, what seems to be the problem, lad? Maybe 'ole Jack can help you out." Sora eyed his boss, who had definitely not made a particularly positive impression on him so far, contemplating what he could say, but in the end he just shook his head.

"There's nothing you could do anyway," he told him with a sigh. "It's just some stuff at school that I have to deal with. Don't worry about it."

"Suit yourself," Jack told him, "As long as you keep the tips coming, it's no concern of mine." Sora shot him a look at those words.

'Is money really all that you care about?" he asked a bit curious, a bit incredulous.

"It's not so much the money as it's the things I can get in exchange for it. Everyone likes what money can get them, I'm just more honest about it than most." Jack sent Sora a winning smile before ambling off to somewhere else in the store, and thinking about the words, Sora couldn't help but feel a bit of the admiration he'd felt upon first meeting the more eccentric of his three bosses return. He was at least honest about and unashamed of his outlook on life, which was more than could be said of most people.

Later in the evening, as a sort of apology for the earlier mishap, Sora was allowed to leave when the store closed at 7 instead of staying to help clean and close up until 8 like he normally would have to.

"We'll show you how to do closing tomorrow," Elizabeth said as she ushered him out the door. "Just go home and take in what you learned today."

"Hey, thanks!" Sora said grinning as he backed away into the still busy streets of Downtown Destiny. "I'll see you guys tomorrow!"

Despite the unexpected extra time he had now and the high spirits he'd left work in, his morning constantly plagued his thoughts. What if Bickson and his friends really had screwed him over completely? He _had_ to make the Blitzball team, he just _had_ to!

"But it's not like this'll be my only chance to make the team," he murmured to himself. "We have sophomores and even a couple of juniors trying-out. I guess if worse comes to worse, I'll just have to try again next year." But the truth was that he didn't want to try for it again next year. Tidus, Roxas and Hayner had killed during the practice game. There was no doubt that they were in, and the idea of his friends making the team without him made his heart constrict painfully in his chest. Blitzing was what had brought them all together and he was sure that if he didn't make the team, hanging out with them would become more awkward. They'd still be friends, but things would change between them, and Sora was just getting used to the bond that they were forming. He really didn't want that to end.

"What's wrong with your face? You look like someone just kicked you in the nuts." Sora smiled wanly up at his landlord who was glaring at the computer behind the front desk of the apartment complex, glancing up at Sora briefly. Cid was gruff and had a mouth that could make a sailor blush, but he was a good guy. Sora had known him since moving in with Rinoa years ago, and the guy, despite protests and appearances of otherwise, was a total teddy bear. He looked out for the people who lived in his complex like an ornery uncle, and was always quick to question when something looked wrong, even if he didn't use the most delicate language in asking.

"I'm just figuring out that things don't always go the way you want them to," Sora said stopping by the desk and leaning over to see what had Cid so bent out of shape. "Is the rental system screwed up again?"

"Yeah it is. I don't know why I even bother using this piece of shit software any more. With all the time I spend working out all these fuckin' bugs I could've written my own goddam program that wouldn've done twice as much!" Cid had apparently been some hotshot computer guy in his heyday. Had a small software company of his own and everything for a time but eventually, he decided to retire from the business to invest in real estate. There were a couple of Highwind Apartments scattered across Destiny Island, but Cid lived and worked primarily in the first building he bought, only visiting his site managers at the other complexes he held.

"But that would be a waste of money, right?" Sora said, offering a line to the very common place grumbling of his landlord.

"Damn straight!" came Cid's expected response. "If someone's gonna market a product the least they can do is make sure it works right. This shit was obviously written by armatures and I definitely ain't going to let a bunch of amateur mistakes stop me from running my business!"

"Right, Cid," Sora said smiling and walking down the carpeted corridor that led to his apartment. "So it shouldn't be a problem to have it running by my shift on Monday?"

"Don't get your tighty whities in a twist, runt. I'll get it straightened out." Cid continued mumbling under his breath as Sora continued away and his voice slowly faded as Sora hade his way home. He waved hello to a couple of the other tenants who he saw occasionally as he walked to his door, and as he was putting his key into the lock, he heard his phone beginning to ring. He hurried to open the door dropping his bag in the entry way and rushing over to answer.

"Sora! Where have you been? I've been calling you all day!" Kairi sounded mildly irritated on the other end, but more relieved than anything.

"I had work today, Kairi. I told you that on Wednesday."

"OH! Crap! I totally forgot!" she cried chagrin plain in her voice. "Sorry."

"Whatever," he brushed the apology aside, walking back to close his door and put his backpack in its proper place. "What's up?"

"I wanted to make sure you're still going to Tidus' party tonight. A bunch of us are at Roxas and Naminé's place wondering where you are." Sora smacked his forehead. With everything that had been going on, he had completely forgotten about Tidus' Blitz bash. And really, considering that he more likely than not was now out of the running for the JV team, he really didn't feel like hanging out with a bunch of Blitzers all night.

"I don't know, Kairi…" he started awkwardly. He'd never been to a party before either. What was he supposed to do when he got there? He was cool with his friends, but he was far from feeling comfortable in large crowds, and based on the way Tidus had been throwing invitations around, Sora was pretty sure that at least half the school was going to be there.

"Oh, c'mon Sora! You can't back out on us now. We all got suckered into this together remember?" Before he could answer, there was a sudden scuffle and shout then Kairi was gone replaced by Hayner's barking voice.

"Holani! Get your ass over here right now! If I could con my 'rents into letting me out, so can you!" Sora held back an awkward chuckle at that. Parents…right. If only he knew…

"Really Hayner," he said instead. "After everything going on with Bickson and Riku, I don't think I want to be there."

"My ass. I'm not exactly on the favorites list of a few of the star varsity players, but you don't see me running off do you?" Sora had to admit that Hayner had a point there. Seifer, Rai and Fuu had been giving him nothing but grief since Tuesday's accident, and they all would likely be at the party.

"Besides," Hayner's voice had lowered a bit and become more serious. The background noise had decrease as well leading Sora to believe that he had moved away from the others to say his piece. "Everyone's here," he said. "The whole group from Blitz Camp. We're gonna go together. This is the last chance we're gonna have to be together like this as guppies but it won't mean a thing if you're not here with us too." Sora gusted a sigh through his nose resigning himself to the fact that he was indeed going to Tidus' party. Hayner could be kind of a jerk sometimes, but he held his friends and relationships close to his heart and took them all very seriously. It was difficult to deny him when he got into one of his rare 'BFF' moods, so it was best to just not try.

"Whatever," Sora said into the phone. "The next bus should be coming in about" he checked his clock, "20 minutes. I should be there in like half an hour or so."

"Screw that!" Hayner informed him. "Where do you live?"

'Uh…Kanakoa and Ana Moala, Highwind Apartments, just up from the shopping center."

"Check. Yuffie has her pick-up. We'll be there in 10 so you'd better be ready." With that, Hayner hung up the phone leaving a very dazed Sora to stare at it dumbly. After a moment it sunk in that there were people actually coming over to where he lived. After another moment he realized that he was going to his first party and that half of the school would be there…and he had not a thing to wear.

-:- -:- -:-

Sora was waiting outside of his apartment when Yuffie's black pick-up pulled up to the curb. He was mildly surprised to see Kairi sitting in the seat next to Yuffie instead of Hayner.

"That genius didn't bother writing down your cross streets," he was informed by Yuffie when he asked. "luckily, Kairi, here, knew where you lived, so she got the grand prize trip to Sora's apartment with the great ninja YUFFIE!" Yuffie had given herself the name because of her ninja-like stealth and evasion skills when it came to all things Blitzball, the others tolerated it because they agreed that she had a valid point, but that didn't keep Sora and Kairi both from rolling their eyes at the older girl.

"You all set to go?" she asked as Sora climbed into the seat next to Kairi. The truck was a little cramped with all three of them sitting in it and Sora found himself pressed closely to Kairi, their thighs flush against each other.

"Sure," he said, fighting off a blush. He'd known Kairi for ages, but with the recent questions about his 'preferences', he'd realized that he and all of his friends were at that age where they were supposed to start pairing off, and that realization brought with it all kinds of awkward questions.

"You look good," Kairi said giving him a quick once over in their close proximity, and Sora felt his face flushing again.

"Really?" He asked looking down at his green flip-flops, jean cut-offs, blue and red tank top and black and while short-sleeved zip-up hoodie. "I just threw something on. I don't really have party clothes."

"That's what I mean," she said. "I was worried that you were gonna try to dress up like someone you're not the way everyone else at this party is probably going to do. I'm glad to see you're still yourself." Sora was oddly a little startled by the comment. He didn't know why. What she said made a lot of sense and was a very Kairi thing to say, but he had dressed the way he had because he really didn't have anything else to wear. Kairi was reading way more into it than it really meant.

"Sorry to interrupt the flirt-fest over there guys," Yuffie suddenly cut in and Sora was sure that his face was just gonna have a permanent flush for the rest of the evening, "but I wanted to ask why you ran off so fast after try-outs, Sora." Sora's shoulders slumped as he thought back to that morning and how pissed he was after getting out of the tank.

"I just needed to blow off some steam," he told her. "Bickson and his idiot buddies pretty much screwed any chances I had at making the team and I wasn't really in a social mood."

"Well if you had stuck around, douche-bag, you would have seen Bickson, Graav and Abus get seriously chewed out by Coach Auron and Coach Clayton. They're all on probation now for pulling that shit with you, and it was made pretty clear that if they wanted any hopes of ever making Varsity next year, they would have to watch themselves. I wouldn't put off my chances for the team just yet if I were you, Sor. I've never seen Coach Auron that pissed before." Sora stared at Yuffie in complete shock.

"Are you serious?" he asked her incredulously.

"Duh. What kind of coaches would they be if they didn't notice what was going on. I mean they couldn't have been more obvious in targeting you." Sora sat back letting that sink in. He'd been so wrapped up in trying to avoid getting taken down in the tank that he didn't bother thinking beyond the water to what the whole scene looked like to those watching. Of course Coach Auron wouldn't let that kind of behavior fly. A wave of relief washed over him, hope rekindling in his heart. He suddenly felt a whole lot better to be going out to hang out with his friends. It was a time to celebrate and he planned on having a good time.

A largish group of people were ambling around the lawn of the largish white house where Roxas and Naminé lived. Sora was greeted by a headlock and noogie from Hayner as he climbed out of the truck.

"About time your sorry ass got here," Hayner said, releasing him. "Luke's totally scoring a couple of six packs for us. We're heading out as soon as he gets back."

"Wait, what? Six packs of what? And who's Luke?"

"C'mon, man. Rox told you about his older brother, right? The one who works at that casino over on the leeward side of the island?"

"Yeah."

"His name's Luxord. We call him Luke for short, and Tidus told us to bring a few beers if we could."

"Beer…right." Sora did his best to hide how uneasy the idea made him, but he knew he had failed miserable when Hayner game him a sound smack on the back and winning smile.

"You worry too much, Holani," he was told then dragged off to join the rest of the ambling teens.

As it turned out, Hayner was right. It was a Saturday night and between wandering tourists and residents of the island, the group of Blitzball players blended in with the crowd as they made their way the several blocks from the Capiz household to Tidus'. Beers had been distributed so that it wouldn't be so obvious they were wondering around, underage, with booze in hand. It was kind of a thrill to walk among adults, passing police officers with the cool weight of a can of beer in his pocket.

It was about 8:40 by the time they made it to Tidus' house and they were all greeted with a face splitting grin when their friend opened the door to let them in.

"Welcome guys! Come on in! Make yourselves at home!" He called over the music that was already blaring from another room. "There's a bunch of food over there," he gestured vaguely over his shoulder, "Drinks in the kitchen, pool's out back and there's other random stuff everywhere. Glad you guys could make it!" and with that, he vanished back into the depths of his house leaving the rest of them to their own devices. The group dispersed and Sora found himself standing awkwardly in the entryway looking around completely lost. So much for Guppy unity. Now what was he supposed to do?

This was his first party. He was already feeling anxious about the crowd and despite what Yuffie had said earlier, there was a lingering trace of frustration from the events of that morning. Even if he did still have a shot at the team, that still didn't change the fact that Bickson was intentionally trying to keep him off, and Sora hadn't even done anything to the guy. Knowing that he actually had a real enemy for the first time in his life, not knowing what he had done to deserve one, and knowing that he was likely to run into said enemy sometime during the evening went a long ways in dampening his party spirit. Part of him just really wanted to go home.

"But that's not gonna help you get over your social awkwardness any time soon now is it?" he muttered to himself. It occurred to him that the logical thing to do in this kind of situation would be to stick with people that he knew. He had come here with a group of friends and then just let them wonder off. Maybe he should go find where they had wondered off to. More people would probably be arriving soon anyway, so he knew that vacating the entryway was probably a good plan either way.

Shrugging, he made his way into the living room where he found Wedge, Biggs, and a small group of others—some familiar, some not—gathered around a large TV screaming excitedly at a Blitzball game that was playing. It seemed that most of the JV team was already there. Sora figured this would be a good enough place to settle eventually, but he wanted to check out the rest of Tidus' rather impressive house first. Many of the families who live on Destiny were fairly well off as it was a pretty expensive place to live. The Mihana family, due to Jecht's Blitzball career, lived in one of the nicest communities on the island, and his house was huge.

Sora wandered into another room where he found several people playing some random console fighting game on one side of the room and DDR on the other. Why did it seem like that game popped up everywhere? He found Kairi, Naminé and Olette there, chatting while they waited their turn. He smiled at them in greeting as he walked over.

"We were wondering what happened to you," Kairi said casually looping a hand around his waist. Sora did his best not to blush at the contact. Casual contact. He had covered this step already, right? Totally normal in friendly interaction. "Figured you were of with Roxas and Hayner or something."

"No," he replied a little sheepishly, "Just been wondering around checking the place out. I've never been in a house this nice before."

"I know!" Olette exclaimed. "I forgot that Tidus' family has so much money. That never even occurred to me when I decide to come."

"So Sora, you gonna dance with us?" Kairi asked suddenly, and he looked up to see that the guy and girl who had been dancing before were done. He gave a small nervous laugh, extracting himself from Kairi as he backed towards the door.

"We could play an easy song if you'd like," Naminé offered sweetly. Sora just shook his head.

"I think I'd rather save some of my dignity and run cowardly away," he laughed. Kairi mock glared at him while Olette and Naminé both giggled. He stuck around long enough to see Kairi and Naminé begin 'dancing' to a particularly difficult looking song, impressed by their near identical movements. He shook his head again as he made his way out of the room. There was no way that he'd ever be able to pull that off, but it was cool to see that Kairi and Naminé were getting so close already.

He continued wondering dropping the can of beer that was still hidden in his pocket off in the kitchen before making his way up stairs to see what was there. More people were arriving by the minute and by this time, the front door was left open so new arrivals could just walk in. Sora walked past Kida and Milo on his way smiling and saying 'hi' as he passed them. They were looking pretty coupley and he couldn't help by feel a small pang for Wakka who was obviously taken by the white-haired senior.

The upstairs rooms were mainly bedrooms and they were all empty. Sora wondered why that was since with so many people it would make a lot more sense to utilize as much space a possible, but he shrugged it off figuring that Tidus was probably just trying to keep down the clean-up. He noted that there were another two bathrooms and figured the empty rooms would come in handy later in case he needed to get away from the crowds at some point.

He headed back down stairs with a vague inclination to go check out the swimming pool that was supposed to be out back when he heard his name called over the music still blasting in the living room. He paused, turning to see Roxas moving towards him, and before he could say anything, Roxas had grabbed his wrist and was dragging him through the crowd, greeting various people as he went. Sora just followed in slightly shocked silence. He had no clue that Roxas was so well acquainted with so many people.

"I hear there's a pool table in the basement," Roxas finally said once they made it to a slightly quieter place in the house. "You play?"

"A little," Sora called back, meaning that he had learned the basics of the game from his dad when he was about 8 and hadn't picked up so much as a cue since his dad died…but that still counted, didn't it? Roxas led him down a steep flight of stairs that was closed in by oak paneled walls. As they made their way down, he could hear the sounds of ping-pong being played and the distinct sound of pool balls knocking against each other. Roxas exited the corridor first and Sora heard a vaguely familiar voice call out:

"Roxas! Here to get your ass handed to you as usual I see,"

"Don't count on it, loser," Roxas called back as Sora stepped down into the basement turned game room. "I've been practicing, you're going down this time." Sora saw that the familiar voice that Roxas had been bantering with belonged to none other than Axel, and in his limited experience with the red-head, Sora knew that where there was Axel…

"What is _he_ doing here?" An all too familiar voice sneered, and Sora turned to his right to find Riku lounging on a plush couch, a red plastic cup half way to his mouth. The room fell oddly silent as the two boys stared each other down, Riku glaring and Sora frowning with a guarded expression.

"I'm just trying to play some pool," He said rolling his eyes slightly and turning to the red velvet table where Axel had been playing a game with a blonde girl who had bangs resembling antennae. He noted the others in the room; the blond guy that Axel had been sitting net to that day by the tank who seemed to be playing ping-pong with a stoic boy with slate-colored hair covering one eye; Seifer, Rai and Fuu who were playing on a couple of arcade games in one corner of the room, and a couple of other unfamiliar faces, all looking on curiously, waiting to see how the scene would play out this time.

"If you've got a problem," Roxas said glaring at Riku, "you're welcome to leave."

"I was here first, idiot. You're the one's who should leave,"

"What are you, like 2 years old or something? 'I was here first'" Roxas mocked in a whiney voice. "Last time I checked—"

"Leave it Roxas," Sora said too tired of the whole situation to even be properly irritated. "I'll go. I really don't feel like dealing with this right now." And with that, Sora headed right back up the stairs he had descended moments before. He heard Roxas' voice bite out sharply one last time before he heard foot falls following him up the stairs back into the crowd of athletes and other teenagers. That really hadn't done anything to put him in a better mood.

-:- -:- -:-

"God! Riku, you are _such_ an asshole!" Roxas snarled before heading up the stairs to follow in Sora's wake leaving a very awkward silence in the game room as all eyes fell on a still glowering Riku.

"Eh hem." Larxene cleared her throat, breaking the silence as she bent over to line up her next shot. "Hate to tell you this Ri-Ri, but the kid has a point," she said in an almost sickeningly sweet voice. "You're being an even bigger ass than usual."

"Shut it Larxene," he snapped crossing his arms across his chest and avoiding the older girl's knowing smirk.

"Oh, are wittle Riki's feewings hurt because the big bad fweshmen called him some meanie names?" she cooed giving an impishly malicious grin as she sank the 8-ball and put her cue down in triumph to bug her friend at a closer proximity.

"Seriously, Riku," Axel added sparing a final glare at his remaining two balls before looking up to meet Riku's eyes. "The way you painted this kid I though he was really some psycho hiding behind fake smiles and just playing dumb, but I've been watching him. He really is just that clueless."

"Yeah," chimed in Demyx, bouncing a ping-pong ball on his paddle a couple of times before hitting it to Zexion who caught it deftly and placed it on the table next to his own paddle. "He totally doesn't match your usual stalker profile; no squealing, no drooling, no attempting to steal your shit, no spacing out staring at you." He gave a slightly goofy grin as he raised his eyebrows in slightly bemused realization. "Actually, he hasn't really done _anything_ to you, but he's totally catching all kinds of crap because of you. You should seriously cut the kid some slack."

"Nobody asked your opinion," Riku snapped. This response only earned him a chorus of snickers from the rest of his friends in the room.

"Oh, now someone's getting snarky," Larxene said coming over to straddle his lap. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say that _somebody_ was a little confused or living in denial." Riku leveled a chilling glare on the blonde as he non-too-gently shoved her off of him and stood to his feet. Larxene chuckled gleefully as he glared down at her.

"Now, now Riku darling.," she pouted innocently. "Is that any way to treat a friend? I'm just trying to help."

"My ass," he growled, understanding and not liking the implications that she was making or the silent agreement he felt from the others present. "You don't know what the hell you're talking about."

"The Lady doth protest too much, methinks" came Saïx's quiet voice from his place flipping through a magazine next to the games that Seifer and his crew were once again focused on. Saïx was not the most talkative person in the world so the small biting comment coming from him was doubly shocking and doubly amusing. Laughter erupted from most everyone in the room, and Riku glared at all of them, rage blazing in his eyes.

"I don't have to take this shit," he hissed, turning his back on all of them. "I'm leaving." Not even sparing a look back to the rest of the group, he headed for the stairs waiting expectantly for Axel to join him. When he didn't hear footsteps following he turned back to glare at his friend. Axel just shrugged, chalking the tip of his cue stick.

"You're on your own on this one, bud," And with that, he bent over to line up his break shot as Larxene smiled smugly from beside him. Riku sent a final scathing glare before turning to head up the stairs. He didn't need Axel. There were plenty of other people there who would wet themselves at the chance to spend any time with him. Reassured by this knowledge, Riku moved confidently into the crowd, forcibly forgetting about the irritating brunet who was somehow so innocently and infuriatingly throwing his life into complete chaos.

-:- -:- -:-

"You could've stayed Roxas," Sora said glumly to his friend as they made their way back to the living room, which was now filled with cheering teenagers as another Blitzball game was playing. It must've been one of Jecht's discs of recorded games. Music had apparently been moved to another room as Sora could actually hear himself think for once. "I'm no good at pool anyway. You should go back."

"I'll pass," Roxas said snagging a hand full of pretzels from a table as they passed it. "I don't think I want to hang around that ass-hat too much. I'd probably end up doing something you'd regret." Sora chuckled at Roxas' choice of phrasing knowing that the 'ass-hat' in question was Riku, and that any thing Roxas did to him, Roxas would not regret one bit. They continued wondering aimlessly, heading apparently for the back of the house.

"Hey, how do you know Axel anyway?" Sora asked, his question from the other day coming back to him. Downstairs they had seemed like more than just casual acquaintances.

"Oh," Roxas said through a mouth full of pretzel, "his brother and my brother work together. You know The Lucky Strike right?"

"Biggest casino on the island, yeah I know it."

"They work security. Luke and Reno, Axel's brother, are pretty tight. Since we went to the same school, our brothers figured we should meet and hang out or something and…we did." He shrugged as if to say that there wasn't much else to say, and Sora nodded filing the information away. They had made it outside to the Mihana's pool, which over-looked a small part of the city and the ocean beyond and Sora stopped as he took in the sight.

It was a clear night and a three-quart moon was shining brightly in the sky. Light from the moon and from the few beachfront restaurants danced across the waves making the water sparkle. It was moments like that that made Sora really appreciate how lucky he was to live where he did. Even though life liked to throw him a few fastballs every now and again, he knew that things could be a lot worse. Even though he was surrounded by the screams and splashes of people playing in the water, he suddenly felt very at peace looking out into the softly glowing night. Roxas gave a small smirk and nudged him directing him to some empty pool chairs with a jerk of his head. Sora followed, still glancing out across the ocean.

"So then how does Axel know Riku?" Sora asked reeling his thoughts back in. "They've been friends for longer than just last year right?"

"Yeah," Roxas began, but before he could continue, a loud shout came from directly behind them scaring the life out of both boys…that is until they heard the hysterical laughter and scattered claps from observers. Both looked up from the ground where they'd fallen to see Hayner standing over them triumphantly, brandishing a couple of cups in his hands.

"Gotcha," he smiled cheekily and thrust the cups at his friends as they stood, recovering their composure. "You guys don't look like you're having any fun at all! What the heck have you been doing all this time?"

"We've been doing stuff," Sora said defensively, accepting the cup and eyeing it warily. He really didn't know what Roxas had been doing before he dragged him down into the basement, but Sora wasn't about to admit that he'd just been putzing around since they'd gotten there.

"Right," Hayner said in a voice that told him how much he believed that Sora had been doing anything actually interesting. "Well since you've been partying so hard, I'm sure you're both thirsty by now, so drink up!" Roxas shrugged and took a drink from his cup, but Sora looked down into the reddish liquid in his own cup, a frown creasing his forehead. It looked like punch with a few pieces of fruit floating in it, but the smell said that it was definitely something a little stronger than just punch.

"Jungle Juice," Roxas said at Sora's doubtful expression. "It's not bad." Sora just raised an eyebrow.

"Don't tell me you're almost 15 and have never had a drink before!" Hayner said a little too loudly in Sora's opinion. Instead of answering he raised the cup to his mouth and took a tentative sip. It was very fruity and very sweet, but even still, the sharp bite of alcohol was almost overpowering. The drink left a trail of burning town his throat even after he had swallowed and Sora vaguely worried about what something like that was doing to his stomach.

"It tastes like cherry cough syrup," he said making a face. Hayner and Roxas both chucked at him.

"That's what they always say at first!" Hayner yelled, "but after a few drinks it just tastes like pure, liquefied PAAAAR-TAY!!!!!!" With that, Hayner let out another loud whoop as he dashed towards the pool and did a flying cannon ball into the deep end. Laughing, Roxas put down his cup, ripped of his shoes and shirt and followed suit. Sora laughed at his friends as they splashed around like idiots with the rest of the people in the pool and let out a small resolute sigh. He was supposed to be having fun, and so far, he hadn't been doing a very good job of it. He grimaced as he took another small sip of his drink, put his cup down next to Roxas', took of his tops and flip-flops and with a running leap, joined the madness in the pool.

-:- -:- -:-

He was enjoying himself. Sora was a little shocked when he realized it, but he was actually having a good time, and not just with his circle of friends. He stayed in the pool with Roxas and Hayner for a good hour, splashing around, playing an impromptu variation of Blitzball with a bunch of the other JV and Varsity kids then he needed to use the restroom so he climbed out crashing into Ariel on his way.

"Hey! Sora right?!" Ariel said with a bright smile. "I've heard good things about your game." Sora wondered idly who she'd been talking to. "Good luck making the team!"

"Uh, thanks. Ariel, right?" he said scratching his head a bit awkwardly as he stood there dripping. She gave and enthusiastic nod and then pulled on the hand of a taller boy standing next to her who Sora had barely even noticed.

"This is my boyfriend, Eric," she said shoving him forward. Eric extended a hand to shake, opening his mouth to say something, but before he could, he was yanked back into the background. "We were just on our way to the den. There's supposed to be dancing and karaoke!" Ariel said this as though it were the greatest concept ever devised by man. "If you're done in the pool, why don't you come with us? I'll introduce you to some of the Varsity team! It'll be lots of fun!" Sora eyed the older girl with a little bit of concerned. Was she always so…perky?

"Uh, cool…" he told her shifting from foot to foot as his bladder reminded him exactly why he had gotten out of the pool again. "I'm just gonna run to the bathroom right quick and then I'll meet you guys there."

"Perfect!" Ariel said giving him and affectionate pinch on the cheek before heading off into the crowd. Eric gave a slightly apologetic look back at Sora as he followed after her.

"Booze makes her hyper," he said with a shrug before vanishing into the crowd of teens. Sora watched long enough to make sure he saw where they were going before moving on to find his destination. Figuring all the down-stairs bathrooms would be occupied, he made his dripping way up-stairs to one of the other bathrooms he had scouted out earlier. He was relieved to find that despite the scattering of people upstairs now, the first bathroom he tried was still unoccupied. After handling his business, he took advantage of one of the towels that were hanging in the bathroom to dry himself off a little. He was sure that Tidus wouldn't appreciate him trailing water everywhere he went…not that he had seen Tidus at all after he greeted them at the door.

He stepped out of the bathroom bladder empty, towel draped over his bare shoulders and made his way back the way he came. He noticed that a lot of the guys who had gotten out of the pool didn't bother putting their tops back on, so he figured he'd do the same. It was a warm night anyway. The house smelled strongly of alcohol and sweaty teenagers, but oddly, nothing was really going crazy. Everyone seemed to be having a good time. This party thing wasn't nearly so bad as he'd always imagined it would be. In movies, there were always crazy people and police and running away to escape getting caught, but this…Sora could maybe get use to this kind of thing.

The den was at the far end of the house opposite the kitchen. It wasn't so much an extra room as it was and extension of the living room. There were a couple of steps that led down to the lower area and there were already people dancing around to loud trance music. Sora smiled when he saw Kairi dancing with a familiar figure.

"Hey!" He said walking over and speaking to them over the music. "You two look like you're having a good time!" Kairi's head shot up and he couldn't tell if her blush was due to the heat or to the fact that she'd been busted getting pretty close to her partner.

"Oh! Sora!" she smiled stepping slightly away from the other boy.

"Hey, Sora," Jim smiled smugly pulling Kairi right back. "We are having a good time, so if you don't mind…" Sora wasn't _that _dense. Taking the hint, he gave them a parting smile before wondering over to a corner of the room where a Karaoke machine and another TV was set up. He saw Ariel waving at him excitedly and made his way over to her, feeling a little awkward as he was pulled down to sit beside her.

'Hey guys!" she called to group of teens waiting for their turn at the mic. "You all know Sora, right?" Sora blushed a little at this. Up until that point, the only confirmation about his 'celebrity status' at school was the fact that his friends were telling him about rumors. It was something else entirely for an entire group of strangers to know him by name. Well…they weren't all strangers he realized as he looked around the group. The blond with the weird hair he always saw hanging out with Riku and Axel was there, so were a still damp Kida, Milo, and David from JV, and Yuffie was at the mic singing something that sounded very angry, so really, there were only a few people there who he hadn't ever seen before. Even as he was coming to this realization, Ariel was already doing introductions.

"That's Nani one of our Goalkeeps and your captain's big sister," she said pointing to a curvy girl who did share a certain resemblance to Wakka, "And you know David already. Aren't they precious together?" she all but gushed and the pair rolled their eyes at her. "The blond is Demyx, one of our best Forwards, next to him is Setzer who _thinks_ he's one of our best Forwards," at this, the pale haired boy sitting next to Demyx gave Ariel a decidedly condescending glare. Sora raised an eyebrow at the look; Ariel ignored it. "And then you know Kida, that's _her_ boyfriend Milo. I know what you're thinking. We were _all_ totally shocked when they hooked up. Next to them is Tifa another Forward—we're a very forward group aren't we?" Sora gave a nod to the slender girl with long dark hair as Ariel continued rambling, "I'm Ariel, this is Eric, Yuffie's on stage and a partridge in a pear tree!" Ariel finished throwing her arms in the air just as Yuffie's music came to an end.

"You guys weren't even listening!" she huffed as she rejoined the group.

"We were all just getting acquainted with your Sora," the girl named Tifa said smirking in Sora's direction. Sora felt suddenly very uncomfortable under her gaze and began fidgeting with his still damp shorts. He remembered getting a couple of scores past her at one point during the crazy game in the pool. He hadn't realized at the time that she was one of the Varsity players.

"He's adorable, right?" Yuffie said plopping down on the couch next to Tifa. "I don't know why anyone would think he's even remotely dangerous."

"He's so thin it borders on pathetic," Setzer's arrogant voice hit Sora like a smack to the face as the older boy rose to take his turn at the microphone. "Are we sure he's even old enough for High School?" Sora could feel his face flaming as he crossed his arms over his chest and sank a little further into the cushions of his seat in a futile attempt to hide his scrawny figure. It wasn't his fault that he was a late developer. His mom always had told him that it was the last flower to blossom that was the most beautiful so he wasn't going to be ashamed of his appearance…maybe just a little embarrassed.

"Ignore him," Sora looked up at Demyx who was suddenly sitting beside him. "The guy's a jerk, picks on everyone, but he's all talk."

"Riiiight," Sora said offering a small awkward smile. This was one of Riku's friends he was talking to. He didn't want to risk further antagonizing his potential Vice-Captain by saying weird things to his friends.

"Just like some other people we know, right?" Demyx said, giving Sora a small nudge and a huge grin. Sora froze, looking up at the blonde with wide eyes. How was he supposed to respond to that? Was it a test of some kind? If he agreed, would he be accused of spreading rumors about Riku then? Maybe Riku was watching right now just waiting to pounce on the opening. Demyx outright laughed at him, and the look of panic on Sora's face swiftly turned to an indignant pout.

"Calm down, Sora," Demyx said when he finally regain his composure. "Just 'cause I'm friends with Riku doesn't make me the enemy tool, y'know. And for the record, all of us think he's being a major dick to you, too." Sora was actually honestly surprised by this.

"Really?" he asked raising an eyebrow.

"Well yeah," Demyx said reaching out and taking a sip from a cup. "He's a jerk to a lot of people, yeah, and he's majorly stuck-up sometimes, too, but for the most part, he usually leaves people alone. It seems that something about you, though, has gotten under his skin."

"Probably my pre-adolescent stalking career," Sora grumbled under his breath disgruntled. He hadn't intended to be heard so he had no idea how he had been, only that Demyx gave him a gentle shove on the shoulder and shook his head chuckling.

"Do you think you were the only one following him around back then?" Sora looked up at him confused.

"I wasn't?" he asked, honestly wanting to know.

"Man, when Axel said you really were that clueless, he wasn't kidding," Sora wasn't sure how to take that comment so he just waited patiently for an explanation.

"Everyone was in his business when the Anakhulis first came to the island. A good half of the kids who went to our Middle School did the exact same thing. A lot of them are at Paopuan National too, and you don't see Riku giving any of _them_ much grief do you?" Sora had to stop to let that information sink in. So apparently Demyx had gone to his Middle school too, and he knew for a fact that Sora wasn't the only 'stalker freak' who had bothered Riku back then. All of Riku's reasons for his hostility were based around that single point, but if that didn't single him out as a special exception, then Riku basically had no reason to treat him the way he did…so what the heck?!

"Look," Demyx said leaning a little closer to Sora and lowering his voice for privacy. Sora shifted, a little uncomfortable at the other boy's proximity. "I'm gonna let you in on a little secret. Riku's social skills aren't exactly up to par."

"That's not exactly a secret is it?" Sora asked, giving Demyx and incredulous look.

"Right, smart-ass," Demyx said giving a smile and a small jab with his elbow, "but I don't mean it like that. Believe it or not, but the kid's actually pretty socially awkward. The whole asshole thing is mainly a front because he doesn't really know how to interact with other people. If it weren't for Axel he wouldn't even have the friends that he has now, so while there's no excuse for him treating you the way he does, try not to hate him too much. He just has issues." By this time, Setzer had finished his long-winded 80's rock ballad—which it appeared no one else had been paying much attention to—and next both Ariel and Demyx rushed to grab mics leaving Sora alone with a lot of things to think about. It seemed that his first impressions of Riku hadn't been entirely inaccurate, not that it mattered much since Riku still didn't want to have anything to do with him. Still, he couldn't really bring himself to be as angry with Riku as he had been. Despite everything, Sora still felt that there were a lot of similarities between them.

"Alright guys!" Demyx's voice suddenly called out across the den. The other music had been turned down so that everyone in the room could hear the karaoke mic. "This is a special diddy going out to a couple of friends of mine. I see you back there Riku so you'd better be listening!" Sora's head snapped up to look around the room. He spotted Riku standing against a wall glowering as he was surrounded by a small group of excited and inebriated looking teens. Sora looked back to Demyx who gave him a small wink, and Sora suddenly had a very bad feeling.

Ariel happily hit the play button and a light, vaguely techno opening began to play. Sora wondered at what song it could possibly be until a familiar theme began playing in electronic up-beat. He stood immediately trying to escape, but before he made it two steps, Demyx was there with an arm around his shoulders as Ariel began singing the first verse of a techno version of the main theme from Disney's Beauty and the Beast. Sora buried his face in his hands, mortified, as several people in the room erupted into laughter. Part of him wanted to laugh along with them, but another part—albeit, a very small part— was too worried about a swift death at the hands of an enraged Riku if he did.

As Demyx joined Ariel adding a mellow harmony to her high alto, Sora dared peak over to gauge Riku's reaction to the joke. He had fully expected for Riku to have left as soon as the singing began, but to Sora's mild shock, he was still present, and he was giving the most intense look that Sora had ever seen coming from the older boy. It wasn't a glare really, just a look, as though Riku was trying to figure something out and was studying Sora, looking for the answer. Their eyes were locked, and Sora was again reminded of the lonely boy that he had seen the first time he'd ever laid eyes on Riku. There they were, surrounded by an entire house full of people, but the older boy just seemed to radiate an aura of loneliness and it once again pulled at Sora's heart.

Their eyes remained locked for a long moment before Riku broke the contact, extricated himself from his fawning fans and exited the room. Sora watched him leave as Demyx and Ariel continued singing enthusiastically and the other people in the room danced and sang along. He wondered at the strange ache that suddenly filled his chest.

-:- -:- -:-

Sora had hung out around the den dancing and singing and generally being a dufus with his friends and the new people he met there. Demyx was really nice, but he vanished not long after his performance with Ariel leaving Sora to socialize with the others in the circle. Hayner, Pence and Roxas wondered in at one point and sang something that was very loud and involved a lot of screaming. He ate some of the pizza that was out for them, drank some of the less 'medicate' punch, even was talked into a game or two of DDR by an extremely hyper Selphie, and before he knew it, the clock on the wall was telling him that it was already after 1am.

Sora realized the time with an odd feeling of epiphany. It was plenty late, but unlike a lot of the other kids who had already vanished, he didn't have to worry about worried parents or curfews or anything like that. Really, he could stay out as late as he wanted to…except for that whole work thing the next day. If he expected to be alert enough to learn all the new stuff he'd have to do, then he really should think about getting home pretty soon. Responsibility really sucked sometimes. Sighing and scratching his back through his shirt, which he had managed to retrieve eventually, Sora went to look for some of his friends.

He found Roxas and Naminé in the basement game room playing pool with Axel, and told them that he was gonna find Tidus to say good-bye and then he was going to head home.

"You could spend the night at our place if you want," Roxas said leaning his weight on his cue. "Tell your mom we were doing homework if she gets pissed."

"Yeah," Naminé added. "Uncle Ansem's staying at his hotel this weekend and he wouldn't mind anyway." Sora couldn't help but chuckle at the notion.

"Don't think my mom will care," he said with a smile. "Besides, I've got work tomorrow and my uniform stuff is at home."

"Then maybe you can swing by after work?" Roxas asked. "You still have to do your Life Science homework, right?" Sora smacked his head at the reminder. He hadn't even thought about his homework all weekend, and he was still textbookless. A fresh flash of irritation at Riku spiked through him.

"Right," Sora said panicking only a little. "Homework. But I don't get off until 8."

"We don't mind if you don't" Roxas shrugged, confirming with Naminé through a quick glance.

"Alright," Sora shrugged. "Then I guess I'll be at your place tomorrow night at around 8:30."

"Cool, we'll be expecting you." Sora said his last good-byes, getting a small nod and smile from Naminé and quirky little salute from Axel as he left. It had definitely been an eventful evening. He'd met a lot of new people and actually had a really good time. He did wonder a little at the faces he hadn't seen. Wakka had never appeared, and there was a rather conspicuous absence of Tidus at his own party. Sora suddenly realized that it would be really difficult to say good-bye to Tidus if he couldn't find him first. He wandered the house asking around for him, but while some people had seen him at some point during the evening, no one knew where he currently was. Shrugging, Sora decided to use the bathroom one last time and check the empty upstairs bedrooms. If he didn't find Tidus there, he would just head out and say his thanks on Monday.

He climbed the stairs, dodging around chatting people, and moved towards the door that looked like it most likely was Tidu's room based on the "Enter At your Own Risk" sign on it. It was at the far end of the long hall of doors where the lights were dimmer and most of the noise from the party wouldn't really be heard. The door was closed; maybe Tidus was resting after the long evening? Knocking gently, Sora quietly twisted the door handle to peak inside careful to be quiet in case Tidus really was sleeping. A split second later, he was hastily pulling the door closed again and rushing into the nearest bathroom, which was a couple of doors down, leaning his face against the door as he shut it. He couldn't believe how clueless he was. Everyone was right. He really was a completely oblivious idiot.

He'd wondered about the empty bedrooms, but this was a High School party, complete with teenagers and raging hormones. What else would the rooms be for? He was just grateful that he'd only caught Tidus in the act of attempting to consume Yuna's face instead of anything more…

Before he could finish that thought, another realization dawned on him as he heard the very distinct sound of plastic against porcelain as a toilet seat cover was dropped. He hadn't checked to make sure the bathroom was unoccupied before he'd rushed in, and now, face flaming twice as bright as it had been before he turned to find out who it was he'd walked in on. All of his insides dropped as he found, glaring down at him with bleary eyes, the last person in the world he would want to find himself in close proximity with behind closed doors; none other than his favorite member of the JV Blitz team, the ever-delightful Trav Bickson.

"What th'fuck do you think you're doing you fuckin' queer!" he growled thickly and Sora pressed his back against the door, blindly searching for the handle so that he could get away from the clearly drunken boy as quickly as possible.

"Sorry, I was uh…I just…" there really was no point in attempting to say anything at this point. Bickson was so obviously too far-gone for reason. Even when he wasn't drunk he was too far-gone for reason. Finally finding the handle, Sora pulled the door open and rushed out of the bathroom but even as he did, his arm was caught in a painful grip and he found himself being shoved against a wall in the dim hallway.

"Let go of me, Bickson," Sora said in a calm voice, wishing he felt as calm as he sounded. Bickson was now leaning closer to him, breath stinking of booze and pinning Sora too the wall.

"An' whaddif I don't wanna, you little cock-sucker?" Bickson was getting closer and closer, glaring down, and Sora was feeling more and more uncomfortable by the second. "What're you gonna do to me, huh? Or maybe there's a reason you followed me into th'bathroom, huh? Little slut!"

Sora was reminded then of the talk he'd had with Meg the other day. _"If he's shooting you death glares that probably means he's hot for you." _ Looking at his assailant with dawning horror, Sora suddenly very desperately _needed_ to be elsewhere at that moment. Bickson released his arms and placed his hands on either side of Sora's head, caging him in. Sora tried to duck under his arms to get away, but even drunk, Bickson still had his reflexes and stopped Sora at every move. He cringed away nervously as Bickson gave him a very disturbing drunken smirk.

"Look, what do you want, man?" Sora asked keeping a tight leash on the panic that was growing in his chest. He really didn't like the unfocused look in Bickson's blue eyes; it was as if his mind was completely not there. "Just let me go, ok? No big deal." It was useless. Sora knew it was useless and with a sinking feeling, he also knew what was coming. Really, the situation could only lead in two directions. Either Bickson was about to beat the crap out of him or…

As if in slow motion, Sora watched as Bickson face suddenly came speeding towards his own and managed to turn away just before Bickson's mouth could come crashing onto his. He felt his stomach turn. The older boy was now moving his mouth sloppily against Sora's jaw leaving a wet trail of saliva as he tried to force Sora's mouth to his meet his searching tongue. For his part, Sora put up a sizeable fight and began kicking and flailing in an attempt to remove himself from his predicament. Even though the situation was getting worse by the second, he didn't call out, not wanting to bring attention to what was becoming something extremely humiliating. Unfortunately, his struggles were fairly futile. Bickson out-weighed, out-muscled, and out-did Sora in almost every way. The only thing he had going for him was the fact that Bickson was drunk and he was not, but clearly even that wasn't worth a whole lot at the moment.

He was panicking now, cursing his 'late blooming' body for all he was worth. He just somehow knew that this wouldn't be happening if he weren't so scrawny looking. Aside from the horrifying fact that it was _Bickson_ forcing his attentions, and the fact that he'd never been touched that way before by _anyone_, Sora was beyond mortified by the fact that there was nothing he could do to stop what was happening. He was too small and too weak, and if things kept going the way they were going, he was very likely about to lose his first kiss to the person he disliked most in the world…he wouldn't allow his mind to think past that, but deep down he knew that with all of the empty rooms, there was the disturbingly real possibility of losing a whole lot more than just his first kiss if someone or something didn't intervene, and quickly.

"Give me a reason to talk to Coach, Trav," came a hissing voice that to Sora sounded like it was accompanied by a chorus of angels. Bickson froze for a moment—to Sora's immense relief—and turned to glare at Riku who was standing in the middle of the hallway with his fists clenched at his side. "Just one reason," he said again, sounding and looking extremely scary in Sora's opinion, "and you're off the team and out of all of our hair."

"Stay out of this Anakhuli!" Bickson snarled, shifting some of his weight away from pinning Sora to the wall, and before Riku could open his mouth to offer anything else, Sora took advantage of the opening and with a swiftly raised knee, ended the conversation very quickly. Bickson went down, Riku raised and eyebrow and Sora sped down the hall back into the light.

"Christ!" he breathed in disgust, wiping vigorously at his spit slicked face with the corner of his hoodie. He was never so relieved in his life to rejoin a crowd as he was when he walked back into the more populated part of the house. Suddenly realizing how he had stormed off and left Riku behind, Sora turned to see what had become of the older boy. Riku was following quietly after him, that same strange look on his face again; scrutinizing yet impassive. Sora ignored the look in favor of trying to gain better control of his pounding heart. That had almost been really bad. If Riku hadn't happened along…

"I have no clue what that was about," he said before he even realized that he was going to speak. "He just went nuts out of nowhere!" Riku was now looking at him with a bored expression. Sora sighed and ran a slightly shaking hand through his hair. "Look, I know you hate me and I'm not exactly your biggest fan either, but for what it's worth," he gave his best smile, working very hard to cover up his still shaken nerves, "thanks. You really helped me out." Riku eyed him one last time before walking around and past him towards the stairs.

"Don't get the wrong idea," he said as he passed, and Sora just watched him as he left. Yep, definitely an eventful evening.

-:- -:- -:-

**Author Notes:**

Alright! Another chapter down! I'm gonna try soooo hard to get the next chap out before I head home for my Summer Break at the end of the month, so wish me luck! Things'll hopefully start speeding up next chapter.

So things of note here: We finally get some insight on Riku and why he'd such an ass; we find out the relationship between Axel and Roxas; we meet Cid; some suspicions are confirm regarding Bickson's behavior towards Sora; oh, and of course, we meet Riku's circle of friends. I had a lot of fun playing with Demyx cuz y'know…I love that guy!

Other notes:

-BFF – "best friends forever" for those who don't know

-noogie – does everyone know what a noogie is? It's that thing where people roughly rub their fist against your scalp, the friction from your hair usually making it somewhat uncomfortable.

-I actually have the Disney DDR Eurobeat version of "Beauty and the Beast" I mentioned in this story, so I totally didn't make that up.

-Luke – Seemed like a logical nickname for Luxord. :shrug:

You guys know the drill. You hear it from pretty much every writer on this site. If you liked this, please take a couple of minutes to **review**. They really are the Energon that we run on [yay transformers!:D


	6. Ch 5: Change is Good

**Standard Disclaimer:** Not mine! No money! No sue!

**Notes:** Lot's of Blitzball this chap. This one's going out to **Kitty321** whose supportive reviews encouraged me to type all the faster. Really, you guys have no clue how much reviews help. Another unbeta'd chap. You have been warned. Figured I should keep going while I'm on a roll. Next update may or may not be delayed by my returning to a place where I actually have a life.

**Warnings:** Gratuitous use of Disney and Square characters, language, at least one homosexual relationship, bigoted ass-holes, semi non-con encounters, made-up culture and language, lots of Blitzball, and general teen awkwardness. Enjoy!

-:-finem-:-

**Life on the Blitz**

**Chapter 5: **

**Change is Good**

"Hi Sora!"

"Hey Sora! Lookin' _good!_"

"Mornin' So-ra!"

Sora gave confused smiles and nervous waves as greeting after greeting was sent his way. People were smiling at him, patting him on the back and generally being _extremely_ friendly that morning for some reason. Some of them, he recognized from Tidus' party on Saturday night, others were complete strangers, and Sora had no clue how to respond to all of the sudden attention.

"Welcome to celebrity status, Sora," Roxas said from his side, apparently very amused by Sora's confusion. Roxas, unlike Sora, actually had other friends, so morning greeting to him were nothing new, but for Sora; his lunchtime crowd were pretty much the only people he really knew. Other than the fact that people knew him from all the crazy rumors that had flown through the school the previous week, he was for the most part ignored by most. Now all of a sudden everyone wanted to be his friend? He had no clue what could have sparked the sudden change in everyone…well, that wasn't entirely true. There was one thing that he could think of that could take someone from nobody to somebody over night, and that thought made his heart jump with hope.

They were making their way over to the gym where the results of their try-outs would be posted. Sora's heart was doing a strange pounding dance as it tried to decide whether it was nervous or excited, and the feeling only added to the sureality of the whole past few days.

First, his try-out on Saturday where he was convinced that Bickson and company had completely ruined his chances for the team, only for him to find out from Yuffie later that his chances weren't as bad as he thought, only then to be cornered by Bickson who apparently was actually interested in Sora for other reasons, and then an unexpected rescue from Riku that earned more mixed signals.

Sunday had been just as odd. Sora walked into work to find a smiling Jim Hawkins greeting him from behind the register. Will had mentioned another employee. Sora had never guessed that he would know him. It turned out to work in his favor because Jim had brought his homework so Sora managed to get a lot of his work done before he made his way to Roxas' house that night. He'd met Roxas' older brother then too, another blond, but his hair was cropped short and close to his head unlike his younger siblings.

Meeting Luxord had been quite an experience. The guy had gambling on the brain, probably from working at the casino, and by the end of the evening, Sora had learned several card games, several ways to cheat at them, and just how bad an idea it was to ever play against Luxord in anything.

Their uncle, Ansem, owned one of the resorts on the cost of their island and he sometimes had to spend weekends overseeing things at his hotel. This had been one of those weekends, and Luxord spent the night to look out for his younger siblings. Sora had decided that he'd spend the night too because it made more sense than trying to ride his bike home in the middle of the night, and Sora had a really good time getting to know the Capiz family a little better.

Luxord had given them a ride to school that morning on his way home and while Naminé wished them good luck and went off to find her other friends, Sora and Roxas were now walking the path that would determine their fates for the rest of the year. There was a sizable crowd of talking students surrounding the bulletin board as they approached. Sora spotted a dejected looking Jasmine walking away, a taller boy wrapping his arms around her and dropping a kiss on her cheek as they left. Sora had met him at the party. His name was Aladdin and he was her boyfriend. Looked like she hadn't made the cut.

"Hey, c'mon," Roxas said placing a hand on Sora's shoulder. They both turned from one of the people they'd gotten to know who would no longer be a regular part of their lives and made their nervous way through the crowd. There was a single nondescript sheet of white paper taped to the inside of the glass, "New JV Members" typed across the top. There were six names under the heading and Roxas and Sora struggled through the crowd to get close enough to read. Sora was able to make out the names even before they were fully upon the board, but he rushed forward to make sure that he hadn't read wrong. Under the heading "Defenders" was:

Capiz, Roxas

Thompson, Hayner

And under the heading "Forwards" was:

Albed, Rikku

Holani, Sora

Kisaragi, Yuffie

Mihana, Tidus

Sora's face broke into a smile that felt like it literally would break his face and he found himself pouncing on Roxas in his excitement laughing and shouting. A moment later, he felt another body pouncing on him and then another attacked Roxas sending all four of them to the ground as the surrounding crowd laughed around them.

"What did I tell you guys," Tidus said from Sora's back. "There's no way anyone who can keep up with me in the tank would _not_ make the team." Sora gave him a rough shove as he got to his feet.

"Yeah, you're only so good because that inflated head of yours gives you a buoyancy advantage." Sora told him and there were a few scattered 'ooooh's from the other students.

"Why, Holani," Hayner said draping an arm around Sora's shoulders, "I do believe that was a certified _burn_. Seems like I've taught you well." Sora rolled his eyes and dodged under Hayner's arm as he gave the other boy a rough shove into the crowd.

"You wish, Hayner. The only thing you've taught me is a few new lessons in B.O." With that, Sora ran laughing away as Hayner chased him across the blacktop to campus proper cursing and laughing along with him. Roxas followed at a more sedate pace and Tidus hung back, finding Yuna in the crowd as he laughed at his friends.

"Wow. They're so crushed about this. I thought they'd be happier," She joked.

"Well you know my friends," Tidus told her, dropping a final kiss on her lips as the first bell rang. "Bunch of angsty S.O.B.s."

-:- -:- -:-

The four boys were rowdier than ever during first period and Ms. Gainsborough gave them patient glares.

"Congratulations, boys," she said at the third interruption. "I'm happy for you all, but my words from last week still stand. Your coach will hear about it if I'm forced to separate you." Averting their eyes, the four boys took her words to heart and calmed down for the rest of class. Ms. Gainsborough called Sora back after the bell rang and they were all on their way out.

"I'll see you guys at Nutrition," he called to his friends and they waved and headed off to class. "What's up, Ms. Gainsborough?" he asked. She waved him over with a gesture of her hand and directed him to a neat pile of books.

"Wanted to give you your new texts," she said with a smile. "You can leave them here it you'd like. I'd hope that what happened with your locker would be an isolated incident, but I understand if you'd rather be cautious." Sora nodded accepting the offer then stood blinking at her in confusion.

"Wait, Leon said that I had to pay before I could get any new books." It was his teacher's turn to look confused.

"Oh," she said putting a finger to her bottom lip. "I received notice this morning that your balance was clear. I assumed you knew." Sora shook his head. "Well…perhaps you should go have a talk with Leon at Nutrition to find out what happened."

Sora left the room thoughts buzzing through his head. Leon _had_ said that he would try to pull some strings. Maybe he managed to help Sora out after all. The only way to find out for sure would be to go visit at Nutrition like Ms. Gainsborough said. He was snapped back to attention when the warning bell rang and he realized he'd been dragging his feet. Mr. Xigbar hated it when kids showed up late to class. Thinking of all the creative punishments his teacher insinuated during class, Sora turned on the afterburners as he sped to class. He somehow doubted his teacher would go easy on him just because he was now official one of the JV Blades of Paopuan National. Sora smiled as he ran. He really liked the sound of that.

-:- -:- -:-

By nutrition, Sora had more books to deal with and a still burning curiosity. Mr. Xigbar had let him leave his things in class as well and Sora was left empty handed and scratching his head as he met Roxas by his locker.

"So apparently I paid for my books," he told the blond by way of greeting.

"Come again?" Roxas raised an eyebrow at the odd comment.

"All of my teachers are handing over text books, so I won't have to mooch of you anymore," he replied looking over his friends shoulder as he noticed a small pile of folded papers in his locker.

"What's that?"

"Oh," Roxas' cheeks tinted pink slightly as he shoved the papers further into his locker and out of site. "Fan mail I guess?" Sora smiled widely at his friend.

"Roxas, you dog!" he gave a light punch. "First day officially on the team and you're already stealing hearts."

"Probably just a bunch of freshmen girls," he smirked, closing his locker.

"But that's more than a start!" Hayner popped out of nowhere and pounced on Roxas' shoulders. Roxas yelped and maneuvered him off. Sora laughed.

"Don't know what you're laughing at, Sora." Hayner said giving Sora a playful shove. "Have you even checked your locker yet?" As a matter of fact, he hadn't. Since Sora had no intention of using his locker until whoever had trashed it was found, he saw no point in checking it.

Shrugging, he made his way the few lockers down to where his was. Spinning in his combo, he pulled his locker door open, and sure enough, at the bottom of his empty locker sat a small pile of papers in pinks, whites and pastels. He picked up one of the sheets and carefully unfolded it.

_Congratulations Sora! I always knew you would make the team. I can't wait to see you in action. You're just adorable!! _

_XOXOXO_

_-An admirer_

Sora frowned in confusion as he looked at the next one.

_Give 'em hell Sora! You kick ass and I hope you clean the tank with that stuck-up asshole Riku!_

He read through the messages, some confessing love, some offering encouragement, some just congratulating, and when he looked up from them he was completely confused.

"Apparently this school's Blitz fans are very well organized," Hayner said answering his unasked question. "I talked to Yuffie and Rikku in class and they said that they both had the same thing in their lockers, and Tidus has been getting notes since school started. His locker was apparently stuffed with them this morning."

Sora took this in with fascination. So just because he had made the Blitzball team, all of the rumors and everything else that had happened the previous week were forgotten, people actually wanted to be his friends and he had earned his own fan following? _I can deal with that,_ he thought, warming up to the idea. _Way better than being Riku's psycho stalker._ It was like making the team had given him a reset button and he would be able to start over fresh. That was definitely a good thing.

"I definitely think I like this kind of attention better than the kind I was getting last week," Sora said, collecting the papers and shoving them into his backpack. "Between this and the people I met on Saturday, it feels like this year may not be such a washout after all."

"And what were you saying about paying for your books?" Roxas piped in finally getting back to Sora's original topic of conversation.

"Right! I have to go see Leon to figure that out. Ms. Gainsborough said that everything was paid for and I know I didn't do it."

"Maybe it was one of your adoring fans?" Hayner teased. Sora stuck out his tongue before backing away. "Tell the others where I am if anyone asks," he called to them then turned to make his way to the Counseling Office. It took him longer to get there this time than it did the previous Monday. People kept stopping him to say something about the party and how they should hang out, or congratulating him on making the team. It was such a weird feeling to have gone from years of keeping to himself to having everyone know him and want a piece of him.

He walked through the sliding glass doors brows creased in though, looking up expecting to find Milo sitting there as he was the previous week. He froze when he saw that Milo had already left. Jasmine sat behind the receptionist desk looking at him in mild surprise of her own as their eyes met.

_Awkward…_

"Hey," he said. She stiffened for a moment, he dark complexion growing ever-so-slightly darker.

"Hi," she finally managed. Sora hadn't been anticipating for things to be this awkward between himself and the guppies who hadn't made the team, but now that he stopped to think about it, he realized a couple of things. One, this was the second time that Jasmine had tried and failed to make the team where as Sora had made it on his first try. Two, Sora was a freshman, Jasmine a sophomore. Though small, the difference in seniority was salt in an already irritated wound.

"Um…I'm here to see Leon," he told her avoiding her eyes. Why was he avoiding her eyes? He had nothing to be ashamed of, so why couldn't he look at her.

"I'll let him know you're here," she told him, keeping things all business. As with before, Leon's office door opened almost immediately and Sora rushed past the front desk and into the small office without prompting.

"Since our next meeting isn't scheduled until next week, I take it that you're here to talk about your books." Leon hazarded as he closed the door. Sora nodded as he took the seat in front of the desk and Leon made his way to sit in front of his computer again.

"Did you manage to pull those strings you were talking about?" he asked.

"Didn't have to," Leon replied with a shrug. "Riku Anakhuli came in after school on Friday and paid for everything in full. Said that there had been a misunderstanding between the two of you and that he was partially at fault for what happened."

Sora stared at Leon blinking for a good 30 seconds before he found his voice again.

"You said _who_ came and paid for my books?"

"Your Vice-Captain. Congratulations on the Blitzball thing by the way." Sora completely ignored the last part, still convinced that he had heard his counselor wrong.

"You're telling me that Riku—tallish guy, silver hair, bad attitude—came here on Friday and paid for my books to be replaced?" A small smirk quirked at the corner of Leon's lips.

"Is that a problem?" Sora sat back in his seat, brows furrowed in complete confusion.

"It's not a problem so much. Just that the guy hates me with the burning fury of a thousand suns. Why would he _do_ that?"

"No clue," Leon said. "That's between the two of you. Besides, Riku seems like a good enough kid. A bit of a chip on his shoulder, but that's no different than most of the Blitzers on campus. I'm sure you'll figure things out. Other than that, everything going ok?"

"Aside from the fact that I live in fear that my Vice-Captain may try to drown me in the practice pool one of these days…everything's peachy." Sora sighed ripping his brain from the growing question mark that was Riku Anakhuli. "There are a couple of other guys on the team who've been giving me a little grief, but that should be taken care of, and now that I have my books and made the team, looks like clear sailing from here on."

"How's work going?" Sora shot him a confused look. He'd never mentioned his jobs before. Leon raised an eyebrow at the look.

"If you're living on your own I'm assuming you have a job to support yourself, right?"

"Oh! Right!" Sora chuckled a little embarrassed. Of course Leon would figure out that he had a job. It only made sense. "I actually discovered that I'm working with a classmate. Do you Jim Hawkins?" Leon gave a small nod.

"Yeah. He's one of mine. How's that working out?"

"It's great! I like my bosses a lot and having Jim around keeps things interesting. We can even do homework together since we're in the same science class.

"I start my other job tonight so I can't say how that is yet, but I already know the place really well, so I'm not anticipating any problems." Leon raised both eyebrows at this. Sora chuckled inwardly at this. Leon's expression was totally flat for the most part. If it weren't for his fairly expressive eyebrows, there would be no way to tell how he was responding to anything.

"You're working two jobs, going to school full time and participating in one of the most demanding High School sports programs in the nation. Are you sure you can handle all of that, Sora?" Sora realized too late that maybe he shouldn't have mentioned the part about his other job, but he hadn't been thinking and it just sort of came out.

"I'll figure it out. I'm not worried about it."

"Well that makes one of us." Sora frowned a little at this. "I'll be expecting you at the same time next week for our normal meeting, but what I said last week stands. I want you to come see me if anything is bothering you." Sora began to nod but was halted by a very intent not-quite-glare from his counselor. "I'm serious, Sora. I know that you want to handle everything by yourself, but everyone needs help sometimes. Don't let things get so far out of hand that no one can help you fix them." Sora was taken aback by the intensity of Leon's words. His counselor wasn't exactly the most emotionally expressive guy in the world so hearing the near concern in the other's voice made Sora stop and really consider what he'd said. He paused a moment before nodding this time.

"I'll keep that in mind," he said, and Leon seemed satisfied with that.

"One last thing before you go," Sora paused in picking up his bag meeting his counselor's eyes again. "We took a look at the security footage from the camera by your locker last week. The guys who trashed it covered their faces but what we did see was that there were three of them, and they were male, pretty tall and well built. Ring any bells?" Sora took a moment to think about that. There really wasn't much to think about. There were only three people that he knew of who openly held a grudge against him other than Riku himself.

"There are a few guys on the team who've been bugging me a little. You think it could be them?"

"It's possible," Leon said closing his eyes and massaging the bridge of his nose. "But without any solid proof, there's not much we can do about it. You said that the issues with them were being taken care of?"

"Yeah," Sora blushed slightly. "They kind of tried to murder me in the tank on Saturday so they're all on probation now." Leon raised an eyebrow at this. Sora decided that it was his 'oh really?' look.

"Next Monday," was all he said about that last comment. "I'll be expecting you." Sora sighed and nodded, grabbing his bag and heading for the door. Leon stood and walked him to the door, waving him out. Sora paused before exiting the office and turned back to look at Jasmine behind her desk.

"Hey, things aren't gonna be awkward between us from now on are they?" he asked. "I mean, I know we never exactly hung out or anything, but…y'know…" he trailed off lamely and Jasmine just offered a small smile.

"Yeah, I know," she sighed. "I won't say that I'm not disappointed, but we both know that on your worst day you still have moves that I couldn't even dream of. It was a silly thing I tried for. I think the girl's swim team will tide me over. I'm even looking to join one of the native dance groups, so I have no hard feelings. Promise." Her smiled warmed a bit and Sora met it with a smile of his own.

'Cool," he said, then waved to her as the bell rang.

-:- -:- -:-

Sora decided that 3rd period was definitely a time to be met with both dread and anticipation. As he and Jim had six hours on Sunday to discuss plans for 'breaking' Prof. Vexen, the two of them had a lot to discuss before and during class. For some reason, Jim had really become obsessed with seeing something other than the impassive, mildly maniacal expression on their teacher's face. Vexen never smiled, he never laughed, he didn't get angry or irritated. The closest shift they had seen in the week they'd been in classes was a mild glare directed at students who were speaking out of turn. That look alone was enough to make then entire class pee its collective pants, but it was still only a bare deviation from his usual expression.

"Ok," Jim was saying as they worked on their scientific notation problem sets. "Just in case the guy really is a psycho and does try to kill us for this, we're gonna start off light." Sora thought back to the various responses they'd discussed the day before and quirked a smile.

"So you really want to try to make him giggle like a school girl?"

"Sora, don't be an idiot. That was a joke." Jim told him copying down and answer from his TI-83. "But maybe we can manage to surprise him or something. Make him jump or get him to blush, y'know."

"Hey," Sora said thinking back to his locker full of messages, "maybe we can send him a love note or some flowers or something." Jim made an appreciative sound and gave Sora and appraising grin.

"So there is some brain in there after all." He laughed. "That might be worth tryin'." Sora grinned at the complement and they agreed to finalize plans later as Vexen came walking by observing their work with a critical eye.

"So hey," Sora said changing the subject, bringing up something that he'd meant to ask about at work the previous day. "You met Kairi on Saturday right?" Jim shot him a broad grin.

"Yes, I did meet _Kairi._" Sora wasn't sure he like the way that the other boy had said Kairi's name. "What's it to you. She's not your girl is she?"

"No," Sora blushed a little, "Just a friend."

"Cool," Jim said nodding a little. "I think she's cool."

"Cool," Sora replied nodding too, trying to keep things light. "Well just so you know, she means a lot to me." Jim hummed an acknowledgement, shooting Sora a knowing smirk.

"That right?"

"Yeah," Sora continued. "She's one of my best friends. For a long time she was my only friend." He turned his eyes to meet Jim's so that the other boy could see that he was being serious. "I'd hate to see anything or _anyone_ make her unhappy." Jim broke into a broad grin at this and even chuckled a little as he turned back to their work.

"Well aren't you the protective big brother," he said.

"That's right."

"Mmm hmm,"

"I am!"

"I didn't say anything." For some reason Sora got the distinct impression he was being mocked. Jim laughed out right when he caught, from the corner of his eye, the sight of Sora sticking his tongue out before returning to his work.

-:- -:- -:-

4th period with Mr. Xehanort was as exciting as usual. Sora occupied himself with passing notes to Pence as their teacher went over the details of their first dance lesson, which would be the next day. After class, Sora lugged his bag full of books to his locker, walking past it as he was still wary of putting anything actually into his locker. He walked over to Roxas who was switching books for his 5th period class and dropped his bag from his shoulder.

"Maybe I should just put all my stuff in my Blitz locker. The locker room has higher security than anywhere else, and I can't handle carrying all of these around everywhere." Roxas peaked beyond his locker door and smiled when he saw Sora standing there.

"Or you could take them home," he suggested. "We don't need all of the books everyday. Just remember to bring the ones you need and you should be good."

"Except that would involve me actually planning ahead. What self-respecting teenager does that?" Roxas just laughed at him. Sora leaned against a locker while he waited for his friend to finish.

"So it was Riku who paid for my books," he said just as Roxas was slamming his locker door closed.

"Wait, what?" Sora wasn't sure if he really hadn't heard, since he had slammed his locker at the exact same moment that he'd spoken, or if he was asking out of disbelief. It didn't really matter either way.

"I said that Riku was the one who paid for my books." Roxas gave him the same look of confusion that he had probably given Leon. "Yeah, I know." Sora told him in response to the look. "The longer I know that guy the more confused I get. Even his friends say that he's a complete jerk to me, but then he randomly goes out of his way to help me." Roxas just nodded, waving a hand as Hayner rounded to corner to meet them as always. Sora turned and greeted Hayner with a smack on the arm.

"I'm gonna go talk to him," Sora said a little to himself. "Try for a conversation that doesn't involve either of us snapping at each other."

"You talking about Riku?" Hayner asked. Sora nodded.

"I wanna know why he paid for my books." Hayner gave a startled look at that development but shrugged.

"Whatever. You're on the team now so he'd get in a lot more trouble for killing you at this point. You should be safe." Sora shook his head at his friends before backing away and waving bye to them.

"I'll see you guys later." And with that, he turned his feet towards the tank. He smiled and waved at the greetings and congratulations that had become normal as he walked the breezeways of their school, but his thoughts were elsewhere.

Riku was really confusing him. He called him a freak, marked him as a psycho, and mocked him for being poor, but then he went and did something like this. Sora couldn't forget the strange looks that Riku had given him at the party on Saturday, and then there was the whole thing with Bickson…

Sora shuddered inwardly remembering the stink of the older boy's breath on his face and the wild panic that gripped him when he couldn't get the guy off of him…but then Riku had come. What had he been doing there anyway? And why had he even bothered to help? But most confusing was his reaction afterwards.

"_Don't get the wrong idea."_

Sora had no idea what wrong idea he might get, but the whole thing just left him a mess of nerves and confusion.

He rounded the corner onto the black-top where the bleachers where Riku and his friends ate lunch were and paused, a small smile pulling at his lips. Riku and Wakka and Axel and a bunch of the other people he had met at the party were there. Riku had just snatched something from Axel, and the redhead had cried out in indignation. Riku wore a broad grin as he leapt up and ran, Axel giving chase.

It made something inside of him shift. Seeing Riku acting like a normal kid instead of the scowling ass he was around Sora or the stand-offish jock he was with everyone else sent a glowing warmth through Sora. That was the Riku he had wanted to get to know back in Middle School. That was the boy he knew was hiding behind all of the other facades.

Sora was nervous as he approached the group knowing that his presence would likely kill Riku's good mood, but he still needed to talk. Wakka spotted him first and called a greeting, which Sora returned with a smile. As predicted, Riku froze and his entire demeanor changed when he spotted Sora.

"Sora!" he looked over to see Demyx stand and rush over to him, clapping him firmly on the back. "Congrats on making the team, man!" Sora turned from Riku for a moment to smile up at the blond.

"Thanks," he said, rubbing the back of his head. "I wasn't sure I'd make it for a second there."

"Really? From what I heard, you're really good in the water." This was the second time that one of the Varsity players had commented on his Blitzball skills. Last time he checked, everyone was talking about how bad he sucked. He wanted to know where these people were getting their information.

"Who told you that?" Sora asked with a small inquisitive tilt of the head.

"You were only playing with half of us in the pool on Saturday, idiot," Demyx informed him. Sora's cheeks flamed as that realization dawned on him. He hadn't even been thinking about that when he played! It had all just been for fun. "The team notices." Demyx gave him a small wink.

"So what brings you to these parts today? Gonna chew Riku out again?" Sora barely recognized Axel's voice as it, for once, held no animosity towards him. Sora turned his attention back to Riku, who was not looking at him.

"Actually I was hoping we could talk," he said averting his eyes as well. "I need to ask you something." Riku was regarding him with a guarded look. Sora figured that was better than the usual death-glare and felt a little better about this whole conversation business. "Can we walk around or something? It's kinda private." Axel smirked, Demyx grinned, and Sora noted a few of the others whispering to each other.

"Whatever," Riku said with a small roll of his eyes, and even his voice held less ice than it usually did. _I think I'll call this progress._ Sora thought to himself as he fell into step beside his Vice-Captain. They walked in silence for a time moving through the abandoned corridors of their school. Finally, figuring he should break the silence since he was the one who had approached Riku in the first place, he took a breath and got straight to the point.

"You paid for my books." Riku grunted. "I wanted to say thanks." Silence. Sora sighed again trying a different approach.

"Why did you do that?" He caught Riku shoot him a glance out of the corner of his eye as they continued walking. Silence fell between them again and Sora sighed in frustration. "Look, it's really hard to have a conversation with someone when the other person doesn't say anything!" Riku stopped, shooting his customary glare at Sora.

"_You _were the one who wanted to talk to _me_ not the other way around!"

"Then why did you even bother coming if you're not gonna talk?" Sora snapped back.

"Look, I paid for your stupid books so I wouldn't have to listen to you whining at me about them for the rest of the year. You should be grateful, you little pissant!"

"Now we're back to insults! Can't you even hold a conversation without resorting to childish name-calling?!"

"Sorry, I guess I'm too big of a DICK to be able to figure that one out!"

"I just came to thank you, jerk! What's your _problem_?!"

"_You're_ my problem! If you're gonna thank me, then thank me and leave me the hell alone!"

"Fine! _THANK YOU!"_

"_YOU'RE WELCOME!"_ And with that both boys spun on their heels and walked in separate directions. It wasn't until he was half way to the lunch lines that Sora paused to think about the encounter. Maybe he was imagining it, but it seemed to him that Riku's reactions had been closer to…uncomfortable(?) than irritated. That was a very big change from his behavior the previous week. Why the heck would Riku of all people be uncomfortable around _him_? Sora chewed on that thought for the rest of lunch.

-:- -:- -:-

This week in art, they were assigned their first major project. They would be working on portraits of each other using graphite sticks. Mrs. Smith wanted the class to get to know some new people instead of working with their friends, so she had taken the liberty of assigning everyone partners. Sora was positive that the odds of him being partnered with any of the three people in the class he knew were next to non-existent, yet, somehow he ended up with a smiling Axel Lei as his partner.

"I've seen the way you two have been glaring at each other," their teacher told them as they set up their sketch pads and drawing tables. "I hope this project teaches you to find the connection between each other that we all share."

Sora looked at Axel, a little awestruck. This was the first time since his warning that Sora had been alone with the redhead and he had no idea what to do or what to expect.

"So we share a connection," Axel smirked. "Wonder what that could be." Both of their eyes immediately fell to Riku who was staring blandly at his partner, a red haired girl in a black sleeveless turtleneck and green cargo pants. "Y'know, I've never seen him this worked up about anyone the way he gets all bent out of shape around you," he said as he pulled his supplies from his bag and set them on his drawing board.

"Is that supposed to be a good thing?" Sora grumbled, preparing for class as well.

"I don't know. It's not easy to get a rise out of Riku if you know what I mean. He's pissy and kinda rude sometimes sure, but no one can make him twitch the way that you do and I can't help but wonder why that is." Sora looked up at Axel a bit owlishly. There was a weird something in the other boy's voice that Sora couldn't quite place, but it left him feeling…odd for some reason.

"Don't look at me," he said turning back to his new sketchbook. "Believe me, if I knew what his problem was, it would make my life a whole lot less confusing." Axel gave a slow Cheshire cat grin at that, and Sora for some reason found that he was inexplicably a lot more uncomfortable around Axel all of a sudden.

"He was really buggin' after he came back at lunch," Axel all but purred. "Wouldn't even tell _me_ what you guys were talking about. What did you say to him, anyway?" Sora didn't know what Axel was implying with that and he was pretty sure he didn't want to know. It was so freakish how much things had changed in just one week. Here he was, freely, if awkwardly, conversing with Riku's best friend, people were smiling at him in the halls, Riku was acting civil towards him for the most part. It was like he'd suddenly stepped into the Twilight Zone or something.

"All I did was say 'thank you.'"

-:- -:- -:-

It was the first day of Blitzball with the official JV team, and to celebrate the occasion there was apparently going to be a demonstration game between the veteran JV players and some of the Varsity team. This was a surprise to the new team members and to double the awesomeness, a familiar face appeared at practice to congratulate them all.

"_CLOUD!_" Yuffie squealed leaping onto their old assistant coach, and the rest of them quickly rushed to gather around the blond man. Cloud gave a warm smile to the small group as he pried Yuffie off of his neck.

"Hey guys," he said, "Just wanted to come see you all in action again. How's it feel to be in?" All six of them began talking at once and Cloud raised a bemused eyebrow unable to make out most of what was said.

"Come along, children," Coach Clayton's voice cut through the flood of babbling teen-speak and the group quickly fell silent. "Coach Auron and his team are waiting, so if you would be so kind as to stop harassing Coach Strife and make your way to the stands, we can begin." They all looked a little sheepish as they made their way to their seats, but they continued talking animatedly to Cloud, and Cloud continued attempting to listen and laughing along with them.

"Alright kiddies," Coach Auron's voice suddenly came through the PA system. "Welcome to the first day of the rest of your High School lives. Congratulations to all of you who made it. You worked hard over these past three weeks, and you all made it to this point. You all have had a week to get to know your fellow JV team. I'm now going to introduce you to your seniors. Keep working the way that you have been and you may one day too join the ranks of this Varsity team."

Sora sat just left of Cloud, Roxas on his other side, Hayner and Tidus behind them. Hayner and Roxas were murmuring excitedly to each other about who they wanted to see in action while Tidus smugly commented on how he'd already seen all of them and how he could take any of them down. Sora smirked imagining how Kida would react if she heard him saying things like that. He kept his eyes on the water knowing that at any minute, the Varsity team would be making its entrance.

"First, let me introduce our Defensive line-up," Coach Auron's voice spoke again as two figures dove into the water, a Blitzball clutched in one of their hands. All Sora could make out at first was the air bubbles that followed them into the water, but after a few seconds, he could discern certain features. One of the figures was male, the pale skin of his arms and calves easily visible and glowing an iridescent blue in the light of the pool. His hair was dark and roped in thick dreads. The other was female with dark skin and dark hair pulled back in a high pony tail, her strong legs moving her through the water effortlessly

"Meet our two Goalkeeps Xaldin Jerico, and Nani Pelekai." At their introduction, Nani kicked the ball with incredible force toward the goal where the guy, who had to be Xaldin, was already positioned. As the ball went speeding towards the upper right corner of the triangular goal, Xaldin kicked hard, rising with a little assist from his BC to catch the ball just before it passed through the goal. By now Nani had positioned herself at the opposite goal, and Sora watched as Xaldin swam out a little, then executed an insanely fast spinning maneuver to gather momentum before releasing the ball. Sora's jaw dropped. How had he done that and managed to keep any kind of accuracy? The ball went speeding towards the goal and Nani did a small controlled flip catching the ball cleanly before it even came close to going in. The move was clearly meant to launch the ball as close to the opposing goal as possible and not for scoring.

"These two have defended our goals well over the years. Fa, Raudy and anyone else looking to the GK position, these are the best in the school. Learn from them what you can. Next up," Sora watched as four bodies entered the water. "Our two pairs of Defenders, the raging typhoon protecting our goal from the inner-field." As soon as the bubbles cleared, Sora could immediately recognize from their build, Raijin and Fuujin. The other players in the lineup moved in the water with contrasting yet complementary grace. The smaller of the two whose blonde hair was slicked back moved with sharp, quick movements, almost like electrical impulses. The other player moved with smooth languid yet powerful kicks which seemed to give him(?) a heightened grace.

"Meet Raijin Khulia'lo and Fujin Ro." Even before Coach had begun speaking, the muscular boy and tiny girl had begun jointly moving towards the smaller of the two others, who had a second Blitzball in hand. Sora thought that it was interesting that these pairs ended up as defense partners. Defenders worked in pairs, and while the pairs often swapped partners so that all of the Defenders were accustomed to working with each other, they usually worked primarily with just one other. In most cases, defensive partners had similar builds and styles like Hayner and Roxas, but in the case of both of the Varsity team's defensive pairs, the partners seemed to be complete opposites.

He watched fascinated as Rai and Fuu moved towards their target, Fuu smoothly gliding through the water like a dolphin to Rai's whale. Fuu moved just slightly ahead of her partner, suddenly twisting so that her belly was facing upward, bending her knees and planting her feet in Raijin's waiting hands. She pushed off of him, he shoved, and the result was Fuu moving towards their target at impossible speeds while Rai circled down and then back up to cover the other player whose hair looked purple through the blue waters. The girl with the ball attempted to dodge Fuu's advance, but she shifted unexpectedly, like the winds of a hurricane, and adjusted so that she stayed on target.

The girl had little choice other than to pass the ball, and she managed to do so just before Fuu was upon her, tackling her with a kick that surely would have gotten the ball into Fuu's possession. The other player was moving towards the ball attempting to claim it, but Rai had been watching his partner and with a clash like thunder, knocked the other away and recovered the ball. Both Hayner and Roxas were going nuts.

"Did you _see_ that!?! Rox, man. We have _got_ to try that shit!" Sora smiled over at them as they continued chattering, Tidus saying something about how he taught them everything they knew. Roxas called him on his bullshit and then they fell quiet again as the other defensive pair took their positions and started moving toward Raijin who had the ball.

"Marluxia Khol and Larxene Desade head up our Defense," Coach Auron's voice came again through the PA. "Don't let their differences in style fool you. They are a devastating pair in the water." Even as he was speaking, the pair was making their move. Sora now recognized Larxene as the girl who had been in the basement with Riku and the others on Saturday night. She was pulsing through the water, moving up and down so quickly she had to be using her buoyancy control to its greatest advantage. Marluxia in the mean time was moving with a graceful elegance in a straight line towards their target. The differences in their approach was completely distracting and Raijin did his best to watch them both and look for a clear pass to his partner. It was not something easily accomplished.

Suddenly, Larxene broke high and Marluxia broke low leaving Fuu wide open, but before Rai could even raise his arm to pass, Marluxia appeared from above, hanging upside down in the water just in front of him, and Rai was suddenly taken down from behind in a vicious tackle. As Rai went down, Marluxia casually grabbed the ball from his hands, waving. Rai drifted the bottom of the tank readjusting his BC which Larxene had tampered with, and the stands were completely silent at the new players tried to process what they had just seem.

"Wait…" Sora began. "How did…"

"Sh-she went up, right?" Rikku stammered in her confusion.

"But came from down?" Tidus too was confused by what had just happened, meaning that the move was new. If they were this confused by it, other teams would probably completely flip out!

Done with their introductions, each pair moved into positions in front of one of the goals, each on either side of the large, down-pointing trialnle, a few feet ahead of the Goalkeepers. Sora waited now with great anticipation. Next up was his side: offense. He couldn't wait to see what the other Forwards could do, but he was a little surprised when Coach Auron didn't immediately start with the offensive players.

"Next on the line up, I'd like to introduce you to one of our strongest players." Coach's voice spoke again. A single figure moved into the water swimming at a leisurely pace towards the goal that Nani was defending. "Saïx is our Free-Agent. He trains with both offense and defense and should the need arise, he is often our trump card in a tight spot."

There was something predatory about the way Saix moved in the water despite his slow advance. Perhaps that is why when he finally struck, Sora was left with the impression that he was watching a shark attack rather than a Blitzball demonstration. He dove suddenly at a warily watching Larxene, but even her speed wasn't enough to keep the ball in her possession. This Saix kid was just plain terrifying. He tore through the defensive line with such ferocity it was disturbing, and his movements towards goals were so erratic that there was no way either of the Goalkeepers could predict where he was aiming. Then, just as suddenly as it had begun, he stopped and swam sedately to Xaldin's goal. Again the stands were completely silent.

"Now for our offensive line up," Auron's voice broke into the silence, and one by one, four figures descended into the tank. Two of them had balls in hand and Sora immediately recognized them all. They swam around the tank for a bit showing off their speed and agility before breaking towards their goals. Rai and Fuu converged on Tifa as she moved towards Xaldin's goal, but even as they moved towards her, she tossed the ball above her, executing a series of complicated flips and kicks that kept the defenders away from the ball as she moved towards it then spiked the Blitzball toward the goal. The ball moved so fast that Xaldin barely twitched before it was already in the goal. Tifa pumped a celebratory fist as Saix passed another ball to Seifer.

At the other goal, Setzer was back paddling away from Marluxia and Larxene who were closing in on him. Sora frown a little remembering how rude the older boy had been to him at the party. He really hoed that he wasn't a very good player. Suddenly Setzer dropped straight to the bottom of the tank then shot back up angled towards the goal. Larxene was on him, but before she could block, he had flipped in mid ascent and kicked the ball towards to goal. Nani's foot shot out just in time to keep the ball out, but it had been extremely close. Sora hated to admit it, but Setzer was actually pretty good. He felt a tap on his shoulder and he looked back to see Tidus smirking.

"That's the guy who made the team when Wakka declined." Sora looked back at the older boy who was positioning himself in front of Nani's goal now. Seeing who Wakka was chosen over gave Sora a totally new respect for his captain.

Sora's eyes went back to the other goal as Coach Auron introduced Seifer who was one of the substitute Midfielders along with Demyx. He was not shocked to see that Seifer was very direct in his approach to Blitzing. He didn't have any fancy twirling moves or creative use of his equipment, he just hammered through the defense like a juggernaut, dodging tackles and taking down anyone who got in his path. His 'trick shot' was a straight punch that knocked the ball into the goal with such strength that even though Xaldin managed to put himself between the goal and the ball, he was knocked back and the ball still went in.

Sora looked back at Hayner who was looking a little sick. He was probably realizing just what Seifer could have done to him after his little accident the week before, but Sora didn't think is was anything to worry about anymore. Seifer hadn't messed with Hayner is several days now. Either the older boy had gotten bored with his harassment, or maybe it had something to do with Hayner making the JV team. Either way, Hayner was really lucky to not have that guy as an enemy anymore.

Sora thought of this while watching Demyx dance through the water, avoiding the defense as he did. His style was exactly opposite to Seifer's, indirect and almost fun in how he moved through the water. His method however was no less effective. He easily dodged past Marluxia and Larxene to knee the ball up and head butt it towards the goal with surprising speed. It was like the water parted to let the ball though, and though she dove for the ball to keep it out, Nani missed and Demyx scored.

Sora was so amazed by the players who were all taking starting position on the field. He couldn't imagine a time when he would be that good and have others looking up to him the way that he was looking up the team in front of him. His eyes remained glued to the water for this last part. He knew that the captains were last to be introduced and he couldn't wait to see what Ariel and Kida could do.

"Alright kiddies. Last but never least, the two captains who pull this team together. Without their strength and leadership, Varsity Blitz could not be what it is today. Keep you're eyes open because these ladies are going far in this sport. Meet Vice-Captain Ariel Trenton and Captain Kida Nedakh."

The two girls crossed paths as they entered the tank , making an 'x' with their entry trails and Sora was already impressed. Both girls unerringly caught the balls that were passed to them and Kida tread patiently, watching as Ariel moved towards her target.

"How can anybody move that fast in water?" Sora asked in awe, not really directing the question towards anyone.

"It's called a Mermaid Kick," Cloud informed him, to Sora's surprise. He really hadn't been expecting an answer. "It's one of the most advanced swimming techniques out there. Only a very few people can pull it off, and I've never worked with anyone as adept at it as Ariel thought Kida does come close." Right. Sora had almost forgotten that Cloud was a swimming instructor. His eyes went back to the water and almost bugged out as he watched Ariel begin spiraling through the water at an incredible speed.

"Dude, she's doing her Spiral Wave," he heard Tidus whisper in awe.

"What?" Sora asked never taking his eyes off of the spinning redhead as she approached the goal. It was over in a matter of seconds. Defense couldn't get anywhere near her because of the turbulence of the water left in her wake. The ball was held between her hands tucked in close to her body as she spun and when she was almost upon the goal, she pulled her arms out simultaneously spinning the ball which continued forward with added momentum, and stopping herself so that she didn't enter the goal zone herself. The water was still so rough that Xaldin couldn't make an accurate dive for the ball. It went easily into the goal.

As was becoming quite common, silence filled the stands where the new JVs were sitting. All eyes slowly turned to Tidus who apparently had information on the absolutely _insane_ move they had just watched.

"She's been working on that for years," he said in a hushed voice. "I never though she'd actually pull it off." That was all he managed before Yuffie was calling their attention back to the water to watch as Kida made her move.

Ariel's Spiral Wave had been a sight to behold, but where Ariel's move demonstrated her amazing prowess as a swimmer, Kida was the living embodiment of everything that Blitzball was meant to be. She approached the game almost like a battle. She didn't bother dodging Larxene or Marluxia as they moved towards her. Laughing, she launched the ball at Larxene's head and jabbed an elbow at Marluxia's BC, easily clearing her path and reclaiming the ball in a graceful flip as the Forwards converged on her. Setzer had made a grab for the ball, but she snatched it from the water upside down, then completed her flip landing on his shoulder blades and kicking of, forcing him down and launching herself up. Demyx moved to intercept, but shaking her head, she put out a hand, hooked it behind his neck and shoved him down and away, using him as leverage to flip upside down, spreading her legs gracefully to control the flip.

The group found themselves on their feet cheering as the Varsity Captain made short work of her team. She drew out her exposition attacking and countering every moved that came her way with skill that left Sora's head spinning. When she finally did move in to score her shot, she kept it relatively simple. She did add the embellishment of pulling the move off up side down, but it was a simple curve ball that headed for the upper right hand corner of the goal and then at the last second, swerved left and went cleanly in. The kids in the stands went berserk, jumping and cheering at the amazing display of Blitzball mastery.

Kida took her place at her starting position along with the rest of her team, and they all turned towards the stands where the JV group was sitting, easily treading water to keep their suits filtering oxygen for them.

"These are your role-models, ladies and gentlemen," Coach Auron said over the speaker. "If it's what you want, you will be them in a couple of years. Talk to them, get to know them, and reap everything that you can from their knowledge and experience.

"Now, as a little fun, we're going to watch the best of Varsity square off with the best of JV. Pay close attention to your direct peers. What you see here may teach you a thing or two about how to play well with each other." With that, half of the Varsity team began swimming up and out of the tank as six other players entered the water. Kida, Ariel, Demyx, Larxene, Marluxia and Xaldin remained to play for Varsity and Sora watched as Riku, Wakka, Bickson, David, Paine and Mulan took their starting positions and faced off with the other team.

The two teams swam in a 'v' formation towards the center of the tank where a ball launcher was located in the floor for the opening blitz off. Wakka was playing midfielder for the JV team, leading the group with Riku and Bickson a bit behind him, flanking him to the right and left. Paine and David were behind them, and Mulan was positioned in their goal. The stands grew quiet as the group waited for the game to being. With a sudden buzzer from the PA system, the ball was launched. Wakka managed to grab the ball before Kida got to it and with that, the game was on.

The kids in the stands watched the whole thing with wonder. The Varsity team clearly had the greater advantage. They were for the most part older and more experienced, but JV was holding their own. Sora was particularly impressed with Wakka who somehow scored on Larxene and Demyx within the first 2 minutes of game play. It was clear to see that he was Varsity material, but then, Sora realized with an odd falling feeling in the pit of his stomach, so were David and Bickson too, and the rest of the JV players were pretty close to being that good. He never realized how skilled a player Bickson was. He'd been too preoccupied with trying to not die on Saturday to notice if Bickson and his friends were actually any good, but with this evidence, Sora felt suddenly even smaller compared to the rest of the team.

"Hey," Cloud said from his side noticing Sora's sudden switch in mood, "you okay?" Sora just looked up at him and offered a sad smile.

"Yeah," he sighed. "Just fine."

-:- -:- -;-

It didn't take long for the game to end. Varsity won, but it was only by one point, a fact that amazed the new JVs. Coach Clayton had informed them over the PA that they had 10 minutes to get suited up and back to the tank for practice and Sora lagged behind the others as they made their way to the locker rooms. After seeing that game, he actually felt rather a lot like crap. He didn't know why, but if he was really honest with himself, he knew that it had a lot to do with Bickson and what had happened at Tidus' party.

Sora hadn't told anyone about it, and based on the usual glare that Bickson shot him as he headed away from the tank with his friends, he wasn't sure if the older boy even remembered what happened. The fact remained thought that Bickson was bigger and stronger than Sora, and if he ever got it in his head to try something like that again, there wasn't a whole lot Sora would be able to do to stop him, and there wouldn't always be a Riku there to come to his rescue. He found that thought somewhat devastating. It was one thing to realize that you're small for your age, but for that size difference to become such a vulnerability was something Sora had not expected, anticipated, or desired.

"Sora?" It was Cloud again and Sora kicked himself for acting so obviously mopey. He tried to recover, but he knew that he wasn't fooling anyone. Cloud halted him with a hand on the shoulder. "Hey, c'mon. You really seem down, tell me what's up." Sora had no desire to tell the whole truth to anyone, let alone a teacher, but he knew he had to offer something, and who knew, maybe Cloud could help.

"I guess I'm just feeling a little self-conscious," Sora shrugged looking down at himself. "All of the other players are so much stronger than me. Heck, even the girls on the team have more muscle mass than I do. I just wish there was something I could do to beef up a little, y'know?" Cloud eyed him for a moment with a contemplative look.

"What do you do on Saturday mornings?" he asked, and Sora tilted his head in curiosity.

"Nothing, why?"

"I have weekend swimming lessons during the off season when there are no meets. Swimming's a great way to strengthen the body. A few extra laps during the week wouldn't hurt, and if you'd like, I'll work with you a little in the weight room afterwards to see if we can get some muscle on you." Sora perked up immediately.

"Seriously?!" He asked, and Cloud just quirked a smile as he nodded.

"Yeah, I do a little weight training myself after lessons, so I'd be glad to help you out." Sora beamed up at him and Cloud couldn't help the grin that spread across his own face at Sora's enthusiasm.

"Come in at about 9 to get some laps in and then we'll start weight training around 10. Sound good?" Sora almost nodded his head off in his excitement giving himself a small headache for his trouble, but that didn't matter. He actually had support in ridding himself of his tiny physique! With a final "Thanks, Cloud!" tossed over his shoulder, he made his way to his locker to get changed with his other friends, still smiling all the way. Things were definitely starting to look up.

-:- -:- -:-

**Author Notes:**

Ok, I know that some of you want to stab me for spending so much time on team introductions, but to be honest, I had SOOOO much fun writing trick moves for everyone. I'm particularly fond of the Rai/Fuu combo attack. Yes…I watched about an hour of Blitzball on youtube in order to have a solid enough understanding of this game. Yes...I officially have no life.

Other things:

-Anyone who can tell me what a TI-83 is gets a gold star! XD Dude…I miss my baby :tears:

-This is a quick explanation of the Blitz positions. If you don't care you can skip:

A team is made up of Offense and Defense. There are three players for each. The Defense is made up of two Defenders and a Goalkeeper. Their primary job is to protect the goal, try to get the ball from the other side, and protect their offensive players. The Goalkeeper of course stays in the goal, but the defenders work in pairs and are free to move around the entire field

The Offense is made up of three Forwards. The center Forward is known as the Midfielder and is usually the strongest offensive player on the team. The job of the Forwards is to score. They of course also defend and try to steal and stuff, but they are the fastest swimmers and best scorers on the team. The Blitzball goal is a large, upside down triangle and I think that covers the basics of the game. That's all you'll really need to know I think.

So mark this. This was a transitionary chapter and from this point on, the story will finally start picking up. We have tons of fun planned out for chapter 6, yes we do. Riku and Sora will finally make some progress (yays!) aaaaaand…I'm really looking forward to it! Show some love guys and send a **review**!


	7. Interlude: Vexin' Vexen

**Standard Disclaimer:** Not mine! No money!

**Notes:** Yeah…sorry. Not Chapter 6 yet. I just really wanted to do something with Jim and Sora in Vexen's class, and since I plan to skip some time in the next chapter, I wouldn't get a chance to, so I hope you enjoy this short, hopefully humorous little interlude. I promise I'm working on Ch. 6, too!

**Warnings:** Boys being boys

-:-finem-:-

**Life on the Blitz**

**Interlude: **

**Vexin' Vexen**

_Wednesday, September 26__th_

_Operation: Secret Admirer_

_Status: Initiated_

Sora and Jim sat in class watching…waiting. This was the day that their first crack at their science teacher was scheduled to take place, and both boys were filled with both nerves and anticipation. Fate had smiled on them that week allowing them the perfect opportunity to attempt to get some kind of reaction out of their teacher. The cheerleaders were hosting a fundraiser following the selection of the new JV team members and that fundraiser consisted of…

candy-grams.

For a small fee, any student could write a short message and have it delivered to the person of their choice along with a small bag of sweets tied up with frilly ribbons in green and yellow, their school colors.

Upon hearing about this, both Sora and Jim pounced on the opportunity. Just to be safe, they had enlisted Kairi to ask a friend to ask a friend to deliver the message for them, and they had split the price between them. It had taken them the entire lunch period the day before to decide what their message should say for maximum reaction value and finally ended up with:

_Dear Professor Vexen:_

_I know it's wrong to feel this way, but you are a catalyst for the pounding of my heart. When I see you, it's as if there is an exothermic reaction in my blood and my hands ache to reach out and lend the energy from my quickly moving molecules to speed the slow moving particles around your heart. My love burns like the bluest flame of your Bunsen burner, but, until the time is right, I will continue watching and loving you from afar. _

_Assiduously yours,_

_A Secret Admirer_

They were both rather proud of the message, figuring Vexen to be the type to get his jollies from technical talk. They even had Hayner write the message for them since Sora knew he didn't have any classes with Vexen. Their plan was perfect. There was no way to link the gram back to them and with such passionate words, they were sure to get something for their trouble. Now, as the bell for 3rd period rang, both sat doing their best to look nonchalant while anxiously waiting for the cheerleaders whose job it was to deliver the goods.

There came a knock at the door and in stepped a redhead girl who Sora recognized from his art class, another girl at her side. Both were in full uniform, sleeveless Kelly green and yellow tops with short yellow trimmed green skirts. In their hands was a gift bag full of bags of candy and metallic ribbon, all with little pieces of paper tied to them. The redhead boldly stepped up to Vexen holding out the bag.

"These are the candy-grams for your class," she told him with a confident smile. "Please hand them out when it's convenient for you." Vexen shot her a look that caused the rest of the class cringe and the cheerleader to fall back into a defensive fighting stance. Her friend laughed nervously, grabbing the girl's arm.

"Sorry to have disrupted," she said backing towards the door, nervous smile still plastered to her face. "Kim, how about we go?" The redhead nodded and straightened from her stance, eyeing Prof. Vexen strangely one last time before leaving the room. The door closed behind them. Silence reigned.

The perpetual scowl on Vexen's face seemed to deepen as he looked at the bag. Glaring, he stepped forward to drop the it on the desk of a girl in glasses sitting in the front row. She jumped a little, watching their teacher. When he only glared at her expectantly, she scrambled to her feet and reached a tentative hand into the bag to read off the names on the candy grams. She read. Students raised their hands. Grams were distributed, and both Sora and Jim tried to watch while not watching the proceedings go.

The girl paused in her reading, brow creasing in confusion, and both boys knew that it was time. The girl turned nervously to their teacher and held out a small bag of candy with a message attached. Vexen raised an eyebrow and nothing more so she gently placed it onto the workbench in front of him. The girl pulled out the next bag and paused again, fidgeting nervously. She turned again to Prof. Vexen, and place another small bag in front of him. Jim and Sora gaped.

What. The. Hell.

Who else in their right mind would send their psycho of a science teach a candy-gram? It was beyond mystery, but the madness didn't end there. Time and again, the girl would call out names to distribute to students, then pause as another Vexen gram came up. By the end, Vexen had received a grand total of thirteen candy-grams easily dwarfing Sora's eight and Jim's five. He didn't even glance at his pile of candy as class began, and Sora and Jim both glared at the offending pile that had ruined their operation.

"What the hell?" Jim asked aloud as they walked out of class that day. Sora had no words. He just stared wide-eyed behind them still in disbelief. Then something happened that only added to the insanity of the whole situation. Vexen stepped into the doorway of his room (something neither of them had ever seen him do before) and stared directly at them, eyes narrowing just perceptibly. Sora shot a hand out, clutching Jim's arm to get his attention. Jim looked back just in time to see the sinister look on their teacher's face and what looked like the flash of a silver scalpel before he vanished back into the sanctuary of his classroom. Both boys looked at each other nervously.

"I think he's actually gonna kill us," Sora said in a completely controlled voice, never mind the small twitch that was developing in his left eye.

"There's no way he can know anything," Jim rationalized. "He's bluffing. He probably…creepily watches all of his students from his doorway with a scalpel in hand at some point during the year… He's _totally_ bluffing."

"We're gonna die,"

"Just stay calm Sora, I've got this covered."

"Covered in dirt; six feet under."

"There's just no way."

"Stairway to Heaven. I'm too naïve and adorable to die yet. I just made Blitz! Why did I ever listen to you!?" Sora wailed. Jim swallowed thickly as they made their separate ways to their next classes.

-:- -:- -:-

The next day in third period, Sora kept his eyes averted from their teacher while Jim seemed to watch Vexen like the hawk that was his namesake. More candy grams arrived, Vexen got just as many as before, but Sora and Jim only go one each. Unfolding the paper to see who the message was from, both boys froze. On their papers was scrawled an identical message:

_I know what you're doing and I assure you, you are not the first to try and will not be the first to fail. You like to play games? Well so do I. Let us see which of us shall be the first to yield._

There was no signature, but none was needed. There was no mistaking who the message was from. Jim and Sora gaped at their papers, glanced at each other's then looked up at their teacher. Vexen was ignoring them completely.

"Well," Jim said with a small grin. "I do believe the gauntlet has been thrown." Sora dropped his face in his hands.

"Why did I ever listen to you?"

_Thursday, September 27__th_

_Operation: Secret Admirer_

_Status: Failed_

-:- -:- -:-

**A/N:**

Random I know, but I wanted to put this out to sort of transition into the next chapters. There may or may not be more of these. Just depends on how things go. I may just end up mentioning stuff within the story proper. We'll just have to see won't we?

FYI, Chapter 6 is actually done and should be out in the next few days. I just need to edit and read through it a couple more times to make sure it makes sense. After that I'll be back in the States and very busy, so there likely will be no updates to anything in August. Sorry. Thank you to all reviewers. You fill my heart with happiness and keep this story alive.


	8. Ch 6: Life on the Blitz

**Standard Disclaimer:** Not mine! No money!

**Notes:** As promised, here is chapter 6. 3 updates in 1 month…wow. This chapter marks the half-way point of this fic. OMG! I can't believe I've made it this far! It took like…forever and a day, but now, set up is done and we will finally get into the meat of this tale. The secret sub-title to this chap, btw, is "the chapter in which everything happens," so be prepared.

I'm really pleased with everyone's positive responses to the rather large bit of Blitzing in the previous chapter. Just so you know, that's probably the biggest Blitzball scene this story will have. I've really gotta stop pretending this story focuses around Blitzball when it's really just about Sora who happens to play Blitzball. Anyway, I'll let you get on with the chapter.

**Warnings:** Gratuitous use of Disney and Square characters, language, at least one homosexual relationship, bigoted ass-holes, semi non-con encounters, made-up culture and language, lots of Blitzball, and general teen awkwardness. Enjoy!

-:-finem-:-

**Life on the Blitz**

**Chapter 6: **

**Life on the Blitz**

"I'm home!" Riku called into the echoing expanse of his house's entryway. He put his car keys onto the hook next to the door and made his way up stairs to his room to drop off his bag. Flopping onto his full sized mattress, he gusted a sigh. Almost two weeks had passed since JV had begun practice as a full team and he was really starting to get fed up with the stress and irritation of working with the newbies everyday. He had to admit, they were pretty good. Tidus had been working out with the rest of them for a while already, and Hayner and Roxas both worked really well together as Defenders. Even Yuffie and Rikku who were a little shaky with the rest of the team in the beginning were settling in, but then there was his ever-present pain in the ass.

Goddamn Sora Holani with his freakin' sparkling smiles, irritating optimism, and annoying as fuck sincerity. Riku couldn't stand him. The kid had talent—he wasn't so stupid to deny that fact—but seeing him and working with him on a daily basis was pissing Riku off and though he tried, he really couldn't figure out why. Bickson, Graav, Abus and Raudy were picking on the kid again. Wakka was quick to call them on it, but Coach wasn't saying much, and without support from Coach Clayton, there was only so much a captain could do. Still, after practice, despite the fact that he left every day with new bruises, he was all smiles and laughs with those annoying friends of his. He walked around like nothing was going on even though every single one of those smiles was so obviously fake.

The more he thought about it, the more irritated Riku became. He didn't know why it got to him so much. Why should he care what that loser did? It was no concern of his, but the fact remained; he was annoyed. With every passing day and every new injury, he got more annoyed. He was really starting to hope that the Holani kid would just get fed up with the whole mess and quit the team. It would make Riku's life a whole lot less irritating.

Sitting up, Riku yawned stretching his well-worked muscles. He could smell someone cooking in the kitchen downstairs and wandered down to investigate. Turning the corner, he found a sight that would never cease to amaze him. Standing in front of the stove an oven mitt on one hand and a large wooden spoon in the other was his father; CEO of one of the largest advertising firms on the planet, billionaire business tycoon, and apparently now master chef as well. Riku couldn't help but snicker a little even though he should have been used to the sight by now. It was completely commonplace since they moved to the island three years before. Sephiroth smoothly turned to look to the entryway where Riku stood with a mildly teasing smirk on his face. The older man arched and elegant eyebrow in question.

"Does something amuse you, Riku?" he asked, removing the lid from a pot and stirring its contents.

"Not at all, dad," Riku said stepping into the kitchen, still smiling. "Just don't think I'll ever get over you and this whole iron chef thing." A thin smile pulled at Sephiroth's lips as he replaced the lid.

"That is fortunate for you," he said, "I would hate to leave my youngest son starving for mocking his father's culinary abilities." Riku chuckled at this, walking over to their fridge to get a bottle of water.

"Right, dad," he took a quick swig of his water. "Whatever you say." Sephiroth shot his a mock haughty glare before removing the mitt and placing both it and his stirring spoon on a counter.

"And how was practice today?" he asked, leaning casually against said counter. Riku always marveled at his dad's ability to look elegant in any environment. Even when he was standing in the middle of a dirty kitchen wearing an apron with tomato sauce smeared on it, he still gave off the casual arrogant appearance of the powerful man he was.

"Same as usual," Riku shrugged taking another sip of water. "That loser I told you about is still just taking it from the other idiots on our team. _God_, I can't stand that kid." Sephiroth raised an amused eyebrow at this.

"So you've told us for the past week and a half," he said, and there was no hiding the humor in his voice. "Perhaps you should invite him over sometime. The last person who irritated you this much turned out to be your best-friend on this island." Riku shot him a withering glare, which only seemed to increase his father's amusement.

"Where are Loz and Yazoo?" he asked, pointedly changing the subject. He was really starting to get fed-up with how everyone thought they knew his head better than he did. Sephiroth raised his shoulders in a small shrug in answer to his question.

"Your brothers are old enough to come and go as they please. You have their numbers if you need to contact them." Riku just nodded a little glumly, looking into his water. He'd seen less and less of his brothers over the past year. With Kadaj having moved back to the mainland the previous year to take over things at Serifim headquarters, and Yazoo and Loz busy with their own lives, more and more often, Riku found himself home alone with his father when he wasn't out with Axel and the others. It left him feeling like his family was falling apart around him, and he didn't like how uncomfortable the feeling was.

"Wakka and Axel will be over a little later," he told his father, snapping out of his thoughts. "Mogli asked if we would help teach some of the newer kids the basic dances for the Demonstration so we're gonna work out the details for that." Sephiroth gave a small nod in response, pleased despite himself. He remembered the first several months after they had moved to Destiny when Riku would lock himself in his room and refuse to interact with anyone other than his three older brothers. He was glad that his youngest had friends now. He'd been worried for a time that Riku would never adjust to life on the islands, but he seemed to be doing fine.

"I prepared enough to accommodate two more. You may invite them to dinner if you would like."

"Perfect," Riku smirked, standing to head back to his room, "I already told them to be here by six."

-:- -:- -:-

Sora groaned dropping his head onto the counter he sat behind with a thunk. His 6-10 shift at the desk had just begun and he was already hating it. He was sore from the new bruises he had acquired in practice that day, tired from staying up late the previous night to finish homework, and hungry from missing lunch. In other words, he was extremely disgruntled. The phone rang and he quickly sat up, willing the groan from his voice.

"Highwind Apartments, this is Sora how may I help you?"

"Professional as ever aren't you?" Rinoa's voice said over the line and Sora couldn't help but break into a tired smile.

"Hey, Rinoa," he said trying to hide the fatigue in his voice, "What's up? You know you're not supposed to call when I'm on call."

"Yeah, I know but I'm heading to a conference for the next few days and I wanted to let you know that I put some cash in your account." Sora blushed at this. His bank account was a joint one with his aunt so she could put funds in and take them out at any time. It worried him that she might be checking to see how much money he had because he knew that his budget was getting pretty tight already. There were just a whole lot more expenses than he had been anticipation, and in the end, he barely had enough money left now to buy food. It was embarrassing that he needed help, but he wasn't gonna deny the assistance. Only a complete idiot would choose to starvation over swallowing their pride.

"Hey, thanks," he said sheepishly. "Things were getting a little tight."

"I noticed," Rinoa growled, "I thought I told you to tell me if you needed anything."

"Well you're not exactly rolling in riches yourself, are you?" Sora countered, grumbling a little himself. "That whole Shinra thing is still just on a trial basis, right? It'll still be a few months before you're earning a full salary, so don't act like you make enough to support us both. There's a reason why I'm independent and not still trying to mooch off of you. I'll handle things, ok?"

"Sora—" before she could finish, one of the in-house lines began to ring.

"Look, I've got a call," he told her with a sigh. "Have fun at your conference and just…try not to worry, ok? I'm doing fine." Sora hung up and answered the other line before hearing her response. He was just too tired to argue and he had work to do. There had been a wave of mysterious plumbing issues in the complex over the past few days and as the person running the desk, he was responsible for dispatching their few maintenance workers to deal with the upset tenants and their rebelling water. It had been the same thing the previous night, which was why Sora hadn't gotten much of his homework done.

After calling in the complaint, Sora sat back at his desk fighting off a wave of frustration as his stomach grumbled at him for his negligence in the food department. Things were definitely shaping up to be a whole lot more complicated that he had anticipated. School assignments were piling up already and he was slowly beginning to realize that there just wasn't enough time in the day for him to get enough rest and do everything that he had to do. It had only been a bit over two weeks and already he felt himself cracking under the pressure.

Giving himself a firm couple of smacks to the face to wake up a little, Sora pulled out his books and sat down to continue reading his English assignment, taking notes in the margins of the book. He just had to stay focused. Tomorrow would be Friday. He didn't have work and Friday night Blitz games didn't start for a couple of weeks still. By then, he would have adjusted to his new schedule and everything would be fine again. As long as he had a bit of time to concentrate on his work, he'd be good to go.

The phone rang again.

-:- -:- -:-

Roxas watched Sora all through first period, eyeing him with concern as he hunched tiredly over his work. He didn't like what he saw. Over the past couple of weeks, Sora had become increasingly tired and distracted during class. He was mostly ok during Blitz practice, but even then, he definitely didn't seem to be at the top of his game. He even seemed to be losing weight, which was really not cool since he was already pretty small. Once class had ended and they waved Sora and Hayner off, he turned to Tidus.

"Does something seem off with Sora to you?" he asked. Tidus raised an eyebrow.

"Not really," he shrugged. "Sure he seems a little tired, but most of us are. We're just now really getting into the semester and practice has been killer. Why?"

"I don't know," he shrugged. "I guess I'm just imagining things."

"Totally, Rox! You worry too much!" Tidus gave a playfully shove as he turned down the corridor that would take him to his Home Ec. class. Just talk to him at Nutrition or something. Tell him to nap more during class." Roxas rolled his eyes. "Whatever Tidus." The boys parted ways and Roxas continued on to his Life Science class.

_Sigh_. Vexen. They were dissecting owl pellets today. Not exactly his idea of a great time, but hopefully it wouldn't be too bad. Labs usually meant that they were free to talk and take data instead of the oppressive silence they had to endure during lectures. He gave a small smile as he entered the room and saw a familiar form leaning against the lab bench at the front of the room.

"Hey, do us all a favor and set some pellets on fire to make this a little more entertaining," He said walking over to Axel.

"Oi, you're talkin' to a T.A. here. Stuff like that could get you sent to the counselor's office, y'know?"

"How'd you end up stuck with Vexen anyway?" Roxas asked, dropping his bags off at his desk and sitting down as Axel followed. The redhead had become teacher's assistant to Roxas' class at the beginning of the week. Something about a schedule screw up that left him with a free period.

"Shh…you want him to hear you?" Axel said giving a careless look over his shoulder. "I actually think the guys kinda hilarious. I love to watch all you wittle babies squirm whenever he comes into the room." He poked playfully at Roxas' cheek, which earned him a glare from the smaller boy.

"Maybe you should get back to T.A.ing," Roxas told him blandly.

"I think I prefer teasing you," Axel said poking at his cheek again.

"Really. You should go. I'd hate to have to clean up the blood after I rip your finger off."

"Oh, but Roxy. Then I wouldn't be able to tell you what I saw in Vexen's roll book the other day." Roxas raised a skeptical eyebrow.

"I didn't peg you for the gossiping type, Axel," he scoffed. "Why would I care about anything in Vexen's roll book?" Axel's teasing smirk actually dropped a bit into something more serious.

"It's about your little friend, Sora. You haven't said anything about it so I'm guessing you don't know." The bell rang and Vexen stepped from the supply room carrying a crate with several small boxes stacked inside. His eyes immediately fell to Axel expectantly, and Axel stood from his leaning position.

"Later," he said in a low voice then moved to take the crate from Vexen. Roxas barely paid attention at all as the lab was explained to the class. He was far too preoccupied with what Axel had just told him. What information could the redhead possibly have on Sora?

-:- -:- -:-

Sora glared down balefully at his lunch. He'd figured out fairly quickly that it wasn't within his budget to buy lunch from school everyday so now he was forced to make a lunch and bring it with him. Unfortunately, between the heat and the rough treatment his lunch bag got inside of his backpack, his food rarely managed to stay appetizing by the time lunch came around.

Today he had made a peanut butter sandwich and tossed in an apple just so that he would have something else. The sandwich was smooshed into something that closer resembled a mutant pancake, and the apple was actually warm to the touch and covered in brown bruises. _My life has hit an all time low,_ he thought as he pealed the plastic bag from his sandwich with some difficulty and lifted it to take a bite. It tasted like apple-flavored backpack.

Crappy as the food was, it didn't even cross Sora's mind to not eat it. He'd done that the day before and regretted it for the rest of the day as his stomach continued to remind him how stupid that plan had been. It had basically meant going a whole day without food as he usually didn't eat breakfast, and that was just plain stupid. Sora sighed, choking down another bite of sandwich as his friends talked and laughed around him. At least there was still that. Just being around friends always made him feel better when he was down.

There was a sudden plop and thud as something fell into his lap and to his side and then Kairi was sitting down next to him on his root. He looked down to realize that the plop was a bag of his favorite chips and the thud was a bottle of Destati Starburst Cooler, one of the healthier energy drinks. It was produced from natural stuff over on Serenity Island apparently.

"Kairi, marry me," Sora said not even looking at the girl and ripping into his bag of Dragon Fries. Kairi giggled as he began shoving the bright red spicy fries into his mouth, promptly coving his face and fingers with red powder.

"With charms like those, how can a girl resist?" she asked, and Sora paused in his gorging to shoot her a small glare. He would let the jab slide since she had provided him with sustaining nourishment that tasted of hot and salt and deep-fried goodness.

_Mmmm…hypertension…_

Kairi handed him a napkin when it looked like he was ready to eat at a more sedate pace. He accepted, using the condensation from his drink to dampen the napkin so that he could clean his hands and face. When he was done, he opened his Destati and took a swig.

"Thanks, Kai." He smiled over at her with red stained lips. "That really hit the spot."

"I'm sure," Kairi told him cracking a grin of her own. "I couldn't stand watching you try to eat those pathetic excuses for lunch that you've been bringing."

"Hey! I'll have you know that peanut butter is a perfectly healthy and reputable option for lunch." Kairi leveled a look at him. "Fine, they suck," he said dropping the insulted act, "but it's better than nothing right?"

"Yeah, but not by much," she gave a grossed out look to the half eaten 'sandwich' in Sora's lap. Sora shot her a pout picking up his sandwich and taking a large bite, chewing for a second then sticking out his tongue.

"Gross, Sora. Seriously." Kairi told him averting her eyes. He just laughed and continued eating. "Are you sure that everything's cool? You're not looking so good these days."

"I'm fine, mom." He teased with a smile. "I'm just unfortunately still a teenager and haven't quite figured out this whole budgeting thing. I get paid this weekend so I promise my lunches will rise to your demanding standards next week. No worries."

"Fine," Kairi said giving him a bump with her shoulders. "You can't blame me for worrying, but I'll try to let you handle your business." They sat quietly for a time listing as Hayner and Roxas got into another argument over something stupid and munching on their individual lunches.

"Has there been any improvement with your mom?" Kairi asked quietly. She rarely asked about Sora's mother and he knew that she had to really be worrying about him to even bring up the subject. Sora looked around to make sure that no one was paying attention to their conversation before replying in an equally hushed voice.

"I think she's doing better," he said, a hopeful smile pulling at his lips. "I went to see he a few weeks ago and she put me in one of her paintings, and then I visited her on Tuesday, and she even looked at me a few times. It may just be me getting my hopes up too soon, but I'm thinking that maybe by the end of the school year, she might be able to come home again." They were quiet again for a while, but the silence seemed a bit more tense this time around.

"But, Sora," Kairi began hesitantly, "You're barely managing to take care of yourself right now. Your mom's not gonna be able to work as soon as she's out of the hospital. How are you going to support both of you?" Sora took another sip of his drink, watching now as Selphie chased Roxas around with a spray bottle full of something pink. He picked up the scent of roses in the air.

"My dad's insurance money should last us some. Right now it's all going to pay for the place where she's staying, but once she's out, we'll be able to use it to live off of until…well, until we can't anymore. I've got this figured out, Kai. Seriously, you don't have to worry." Kairi gusted a sigh backing off. She knew that Sora could be very stubborn when he wanted to be and he was not a fan of people feeling sorry for him. She'd let it drop for now, but if he didn't start looking better in a couple of weeks, she would be forced to either talk him into accepting help from someone or, as a last resort, she'd have to have a conversation with his guidance counselor.

"So what do you have planned for your birthday next week?" Kairi asked, changing the subject.

"It falls on a Saturday, remember? I have to work." He smiled, rolling his eyes and Kairi couldn't help but giggle.

"So? You have Friday off right? We'll do something then."

"Kairi, I have so much work to catch up on, all of my Fridays are already swamped."

"Oh whatever," she huffed. "You need some chill time. I'm taking the choice out of your hands." Before he could stop her, Kairi was already on her feet calling out to the rest of the group. "Hey guys, Sora's birthday is next Saturday, we're throwin' him a party on Friday night!" Sora buried his face in is hands. There was a chorus of 'cool's, 'yes!'s, and 'excellent's and then Kairi sat back down looking smug.

"You're evil," he moaned from between his fingers.

"You'll thank me after you have a fabulous time at your party." She said mussing his hair. Sora groaned again.

-:- -:- -:-

"Sora, maybe you should cut out early today," Cloud said watching the struggling boy. In the past couple of weeks they had been working, Sora had managed to get a little bit more muscle on him, but all that seemed to have done was eat away at the already small amount of fat on his body.

"It's ok," Sora grunted from the leg curls machine. "I'm good for a few more sets."

"Ok, let me rephrase that," Cloud said crossing his arms. "We're done for the day. Let's go cool down." Sora gently let the weights down before hunching forward and wiping his brow with his towel. He didn't know why he was so tired today. He'd managed almost a full eight hours of sleep the previous night which was a huge step up from his usual four or five. Pulling himself to his feet, he followed Cloud over to the mats for stretches. They went through their usual routine in silence for a while, the only other people in the complex a few straggling swimmers and the on-call medic/life guard who was required to be there during the pool's open hours.

"So," Cloud began at length, "how are things?" Sora resisted the urge to stand up and slam his head repeatedly against a wall. This was the second time in as many days that someone had asked about 'how he was doing' and Sora was already sick of it. Part of it was the fact that he didn't want his friends and teachers feeling sorry for him, but a bigger part was frustration that things were getting so bad that he couldn't easily cover it up anymore apparently.

"Things are fine, Cloud, can we leave it at that?"

"I don't think we can," Cloud told him. "You're really not fooling anyone, Sora." Sora scowled at his coach. Cloud wasn't impressed. Sora was too tired to hold on to his irritation and just fell back to lay on the mat staring at the ceiling of the weight room.

"Fine," he sighed. "What do you want me to say? That I'm so tired I can barely think straight? That's I've taken on more than I can handle? That I'm totally lost and have no clue what I'm doing anymore?" Cloud leaned on the wall beside Sora's head looking down at him.

"Well, that's a start," Cloud said with a small smirk.

"Look, don't you think I get it? I know that I'm screwed. I get it, really I do. I get that everyone's worried, but I seriously don't think there's anything that anyone can do to fix this. I need both of my jobs, I'm not quitting school, I'm not quitting Blitzball, and well…there's not really anything else I could drop."

"You don't have to be here on Saturdays," Cloud told him. Sora shrugged.

"I want to be here on Saturdays. It's pretty much the only non-required activity on my schedule." They were quiet for a time.

"You realize I'm gonna have to talk to Leon about this." Sora groaned inwardly. He actually had known that was coming. He knew that Cloud and Leon and a few of the other teachers he had spent a lot of time together. It was only logical that they would communicate with each other.

"I know," Sora said. "He's gonna kill me for not saying anything to him directly."

"Then I'll give you that opportunity," Cloud said levering himself up and giving Sora a hand. "Go talk to him on Monday. He'll know your options better than I will." Sora nodded reluctantly and Cloud ran a hand through his damp chestnut spikes. Sora felt his ears warm at the brief contact but ignored it.

"Good," Cloud said. "Now hit the showers. You smell," Sora rolled his eyes at the older man who walked away chuckling at him. He found himself studying Cloud's muscular body as he moved towards the coach's office, ears _and_ cheeks warming this time at his coach's casual grace. He looked down at his own wiry frame and sighed. There was no way he'd ever get a body like that. Especially with only a couple of hours of weight training a week. It was hopeless.

Sighing, he made his moping way to the showers. When had his life become so lame?

-:- -:- -:-

The talk with Leon was not nearly as bad as Sora thought it would be. Unlike so many others, his counselor did not shoot him disapproving glares or give him sad sorrowful eyes. He kept the same bland expression on his face as he presented possible options for Sora, and that made the process so much less awkward.

"I wouldn't recommend it, but you could drop out of school." Sora shook his head.

"Blitzball." Another shake.

"Can you quit one of your jobs?" another negative

"Then you're going to have to learn to manage every second of your time." He reached into one of the drawers of his desk and pulled out a spiral bound book. "Meet your new best friend." Sora took the book and began flipping through the pages. It was a day planner. "I want you in here every Monday from now until you think you can manage on your own. We're gonna sit down together and figure out your week, planning everything from eating to sleeping to bathing. If you're not willing to give anything up, then your life is going to have to be a very delicate dance until you change your mind." Sora nodded looking down at the day planner. Why had he never thought to get one before?

"Have you told any of your friends about your situation?" Sora shook his head.

"Only one of them knows what's going on and I made her promise not to tell anyone else."

"I recommend you tell someone else; a few others even. You'll be surprised by how much it helps just to have other people know. Making this a big secret can't be helping your stress levels." Sora nodded again avoiding Leon's stormy gaze. He was feeling pretty lame at the moment. Everything that Leon had told him so far seemed so obvious. Why hadn't he been able to figure those things out on his own?

"Sora, look at me." Sora raised his eyes nervously as Leon's firm tone. "I hope this time the message has gotten through to you. You have people who can help you but we can't know you need help if you don't ask." Sora scoffed a little at this. Obviously everyone _had _realized that he needed help, otherwise he wouldn't be there.

"I'm sorry," he sighed. "I'm just not really used to depending on other people, y'know?"

"Believe it or not, I _do _know, which is why I'm going to stay on your case until I'm sure you figure it out." Sora averted his eyes again. This guy was really serious about this. Looked like he was going to have to take some lessons on reliance now.

"Right." This wasn't going to be easy.

-:- -:- -:-

'Twas the night before Sora's birthday, and all through the isles, every blitzer was dancing, with laughs and smiles…

Yes, Friday came around after an ever-exhausting yet considerably less hectic week thanks to a little assistance from Leon, and true to their word, Sora's friends had put their heads together to throw him the biggest birthday bash of his short 15 years. That is of course not saying much considering that the biggest party Sora ever had was when he had turned 8 and his mother had made a cake and brought it to his school so that he could celebrate with his class…but that didn't even really count anyway.

It was nowhere near as big as Tidus' Blitz Bash that first weekend of school, but Sora was still in awe of the fact that so many people had come to wish him well, and even more amazed that he actually, for the most part, knew them all. They ended up having it at Roxas' place with the permission of his uncle. Most of the JV blitz team was there with the exception of Bickson, Graav, Abus and Raudy, his usual lunch crowd was there of course, Jim and a few of his other friends from classes were there, and even a good half of the Varsity Blitz team had shown. There were a few scattered faces that he didn't recognize and he figured they were friends of his other friends, but all in all, he was standing in the middle of a house full of people he knew and who knew him and yet…somehow, it was one of the most depressing experiences of his life.

Kairi had been with him in the beginning, but she was quickly distracted by Jim. Roxas had been there too, but then Axel had come out of nowhere and snagged him away. Tidus had vanished early on with Yuna and Sora didn't even want to think about what they were probably doing, and Hayner…who knew where Hayner was? The guy was the very definition of unpredictability. So all and all, Sora was left wandering the Capiz house hold, a friendly smile plastered to his face to make sure everyone understood how happy he was that they had come while on the inside all he wanted was to find someplace quiet and sleep for a while.

After about an hour of this he seriously needed a break. His smile was slipping and the last thing he wanted was for everyone present to suddenly start asking what was wrong. He was sleep deprived and stressed as hell. He had the right to be a little less than chipper without everyone getting on his case about it!

Dodging his way past Demyx and his stoic friend who'd been introduced as Zexion, Sora gave a few more cheerful calls and smiles before quickly ducking out the front door to the porch of the house with a sigh of relief. Everyone else was either inside dancing and playing games or out back in the pool. He was hoping the porch would be abandoned. His hopes were immediately dashed. Sitting on the porch swing, gazing out into the fading dusk light, was Riku.

Why was he not surprised?

The other boy's head and eyes moved to look at him as soon as the door clicked closed, and Sora found that his breath caught in his throat. He'd never realized just how…beautiful Riku was. It was weird really. On a purely cursory level, he knew that Riku was attractive to many people—there was a reason after all that he and his brothers had earned the 'Cherub' nickname from the islanders—and Sora himself could admit to being impressed by Riku's features, but he'd never been struck by them the way he was at that moment.

There was something about the play of orange-gold light over his skin, the way it stained the white paint of the house around him creating a perfect backdrop; the fuchsia-fading-to-blue sky around them as twilight approached; the way his hair seemed to capture all of the surrounding colors and blend them into a perfect gradation of all things fleeting and transient. It was like art…like poetry, and not for the first time in his life, Sora found himself wishing that he had the artistic ability to capture on paper what he saw before him.

A moment later, his brain caught up with him and he was finally able to register the mild glare and the awkward silence. Right…this was Riku. He wasn't allowed to be around Riku. Not a word was spoken between them but the silence was more than enough to get the message across. Sighing inwardly and rolling his eyes, he turned back towards the door.

"Sorry," he said, "didn't know anyone was out here." His hand was on the handle preparing to twist and let himself back into the house when Riku spoke and he froze.

"Y'know, that's one of the things I hate most about you, Holani," he sneered and Sora was immediately on the defensive as he turned back. "You're such a fucking push-over. This is _your_ goddamn party. _Your_ friend's house, and you back down just because _I'm_ here? Clearly, you couldn't stand your own ground if your life depended on it. It's fucking pathetic." Sora just stood staring as the light faded around them, not really sure how he was supposed to respond to that. On the one hand, Riku was yet again insulting him without provocation. On the other, this was the first conversation that the other boy had actually initiated, so maybe that meant he felt like talking for once? Sora decided to take his chances.

"So then is that your problem?" he asked quietly. "Is that why you're always on my case?" Riku gave him a look like he was a complete idiot.

"I'm not the one that's on your case, dick-weed. That's Bickson and his little man-harem, and to be perfectly honest, I can't blame them for trying to kick the shit out of you every chance they get."

"What is _that_ supposed to mean," Sora hissed, finally beginning to get angry.

"It mean's you look and act like prey. You're clueless and oblivious and it makes me sick." Riku stood from his sitting position on the swing to glower down at Sora, but Sora stood his ground. "I can't _stand_ people like you." Riku informed him. "Running around with rose tinted glasses like life is some kind of fuckin' cake walk. Everything's honey-coated and apple pie as long as you've got your sunshine and rainbows and your best buddies to kiss your boo-boos away!" The last part was said in a patronizing, intentionally stupid sounding voice. Sora bit back his anger as Riku continued his rant.

"You plaster those fake-ass smiles on your face to make people like you so that you can keep your bullshit little fantasy alive. Well guess what; you're not fooling anybody. Bickson can see through that shit, I can see through that shit and it's only a matter of time before your friends see through it too and realize just how fucked-up pathetic you really are."

It wasn't until he hear the gust of air and saw Riku go down that Sora even realized that he had struck out at the other boy…twice. Riku was clutching his abdomen and his head glaring up dangerously at Sora, but Sora was too angry to care. The stress from the past weeks seemed to come to a head and he let into Riku with everything he'd been holding back.

"You've got some balls, Anakhuli! You of all people standing there, accusing me of being fake when you don't even know me! You have no_ fucking _idea what my life is like! And you're one to talk. You say you can see through me, well I can see through you too, you little fucker! You run around with your rich-boy-asshole front, keeping people at arms length, acting like you're too good for them when really, you're just scared! Scared of people, scared of letting them see who you really are, and that's why you're going to grow up, get old and die alone one day without so much as a puppy to piss on your grave. Now _that's_ pathetic."

Riku looked up at him as if he were a fluffy bunny who had suddenly sprouted fangs and went for his jugular. Sora got the distinct impression that he had hit on a sensitive subject and immediately felt guilty for reacting the way he had, but rage was still pulsing through his veins and it wasn't in him to apologize. Riku had started this.

"I can't deal with this anymore," he hissed, walking past a still kneeling Riku, down the few steps of the porch and heading towards home. He was too irritated to deal with people anymore even if it was his own birthday party. He didn't want to admit it, but Riku's words had really _hurt_. He knew that they weren't true, that Riku really didn't know what he was talking about, but there was still that nagging voice in the back of his brain that kept telling him that Riku was right and it really was just a matter of time before his friends realized how pathetic he was and ditched him. He wasn't good enough for his own mother to care to stick around, why should he expect complete strangers to do any better?

He chose to walk home in an attempt to work off some of the raging emotions that were threatening to overwhelm him, glaring at the ground the whole way. When he got to his tiny messy apartment, he turned on some nice angsty screaming punk as loud as he dared, threw himself down onto his bed, covered his head with a pillow and did his best to will the world away.

This had been the worst birthday ever.

-:- -:- -:-

Riku opened his door and slammed it, heading straight to his room without word. He was pissed. He was flaming pissed, but he really wasn't sure who he was pissed at or why for that matter. So the Holani kid had some bite to his bark after all. He hissed, probing gently at the growing lump on the side of his head. That actually wasn't too bad. At least the bruise wouldn't be visible. He hadn't been expecting to get hit, but well…he probably deserved it. He had totally taken the situation a little too far, but that was just one of the other irritating things about the kid. He flopped down face first onto his bed, growling into his comforter. Riku never felt as out of control as he did when little Sora Holani showed his scrawny ass. He still didn't get it and that just pissed him off even more.

"Hmmm, sounds like someone's in one of his moods," a voice suddenly came from his door way. Shit. He hadn't been expecting anyone to be home so he hadn't closed or locked his door.

"Go fuck yourself, Yazoo." Riku growled looking at his older brother who just smirked at him.

"Entertaining as I'm sure that would be, I don't think it's physically possible." Growling again, Riku buried his face in his bed hoping that for once his brother would just leave him alone. Of course he would have no such luck. He felt his bed dip under Yazoo's weight and then his brother was crooning at him as he poked repeatedly at one of Riku's biceps.

"C'mon now Riki, you know I'll get it out of you eventually." Riku scooted away petulantly. Yazoo scooted, too. "Don't make me resort to _other_ persuasive measures." Riku growled again, raising his head and giving Yazoo the finger as he did his best to glare death at his brother. This was a look that had upon occasion, made grown men weep, small children wet themselves, and seared the flesh right off of small animals in it's path. His brother just took in his messy hair along with the childish act and laughed outright in Riku's face. Riku glared for another moment before burying his face in his blanket again and _not_ whining for his brother to leave him alone.

"Seriously Riku, what's the matter. You seem to be a bit more hormonal than usual tonight. Weren't you out with your friends?" Riku sighed and finally sat up to face his brother properly. He knew that Yazoo would get his way eventually anyway, so there really was not point in trying to resist.

"It's that goddamn Holani kid again," he growled. Yazoo only raised an eyebrow waiting for him to continue. "Axel and the others dragged me to his stupid birthday party tonight and we kinda…had words."

"Meaning that you ran off at the mouth without thinking as usual," Yazoo inserted what he knew his brother was leaving out. Riku just shot him a glare but ignored his brother because he knew he was right.

"Anyway, I said some things that I maybe shouldn't have and he got pissed and kinda decked me." Yazoo blinked.

"I thought you said he was a push-over."

"He is."

"The what exactly did you say to provoke him to violence?" Riku sighed averting his eyes.

"I kinda said that he thought life was all fluff and bunnies and that he only did things to make people like him and one day his friends would figure that out and ditch him for being so pathetic…or something along those lines." He'd mumbled most of that hoping that his brother would miss it, but clearly Yazoo had understood enough. He was staring at him like he was touched in the head.

"God, Reeks, way to wish the kid a happy birthday. You really _are _an asshole sometimes. What on Earth possessed you to say that to this boy when you barely even know him?"

"I don't know!" Riku cried flopping back onto his bed. "Everything gets messed up in my head when he's around. It seemed like a good idea at the time." Riku decidedly was _not_ pouting about the issue. His lower lip was jutting out in a very angry and threatening way, and there was nothing at all childish or huffy about it. Yazoo looked down at him fondly for a moment before flopping down on the bed beside his brother to join him in studying the skylight in his ceiling.

"So?" he asked.

"So what?"

"So what happened next? Did he just deck you and storm off?"

"Not quite," Riku said fidgeting uncomfortably. This was the part that got _really_ awkward.

"Then what happened?" Yazoo pressed. Riku was silent for a moment before answering. This was getting dangerously close to a conversation that he'd been avoiding for years. There was a large part of him that didn't want to tell, but of all his brothers, Yazoo seemed to be the one who could best help Riku figure out his own head, and he really wanted to understand what had happened that night.

"He kinda told me off," he said softly. "Said that I put on fronts to keep people away…because I'm scared of letting people get close." The last part was the hardest to get out and Riku paused once more before speaking. "He said that I would end up alone because of it." Silence again filled the room as Riku anxiously awaited his brother's response. He didn't know what he was hoping to hear, but he hoped that something Yazoo said would help him figure out why that kid's words had bothered him so much.

"What do you think about that?" Yazoo asked and Riku groaned in irritation. He hated when his brother sent shit back at him like that. One entry-level psych course and the guy though he was some kind of head shrinker.

"I don't know, Yazoo!" he said throwing an arm across his eyes. This was giving him a headache. "If I understood this I wouldn't be talking to you about it. I was pissed as fuck at first, but now…now I just don't know."

"Why were you angry?" Riku hissed and chose not to reply. If all Yazoo was going to do was throw questions at him, he'd rather just not talk to his brother at all. When it became apparent that Riku was not going to say anything, Yazoo spoke again.

"I'll tell you what I think the real problem is," he said. "I think this Holani kid hit closer to the truth than you would like to admit and that he also touched on something that you really do fear." There was a contemplative pause before Yazoo continued and Riku felt his body tense at his brother's subject of choice. He really should have just left this discussion alone.

"Riku, we've all been avoiding this for a long time, but there are still a lot of things that you need to be willing to face. Ever since Mom died and Dad brought us to this place, you've been cutting yourself off more and more from anyone who tries to get close to you. Axel had to pretty much force his friendship on you and even after that, it was almost a year before you were willing to spend time with any of his other friends." Riku bit his lip trying to control the unnamable emotions that were beginning to pound through his chest.

"You are doing better, little brother, but your friend is right. You're afraid, and if you don't learn to face your fear, you _will_ end up alone someday. Dad, Loz, Kadaj and me, we all care about you, but you know as well as the rest of us that you can't depend on us forever. You'll have to set out on your own one day just like the rest of us." Riku squeezed his eyes shut against the words, but he couldn't deny their truth. He was already feeling how their family was drifting apart, not by fault of anyone, but just because that's what happened in life. People grew up, had their own lives, and the family unit that had once existed became scattered. That's just how it was…that didn't mean he had to like it.

Riku felt his brother reach out carefully to run soothing fingers through his hair before speaking again. The motion was meant to offer comfort, but it only caused a fist to grip around his heart squeezing painfully. Yazoo was rarely this affectionate towards him anymore, and considering the course of the conversation, there was only one thing that would spur his brother to try to offer him comfort.

"We all miss Mom," Yazoo began, an Riku took a deep breath as the lump that had already been growing in his throat seemed to expand to fill everything from his chest to the lower parts of his ears. He did not want to be having this conversation. "Losing her was hell on all of us Riku, but she wouldn't want this for you. She wouldn't want you hiding yourself away to protect yourself from feeling that pain again. You can't live like that."

"Yazoo, what the fuck does this have to do with anything?" he asked hoping to change the subject and hoping his brother couldn't hear the slight tremor in his voice.

"I think you're attracted to this Holani," Yazoo told him simply. "I think he terrifies you because he's the first to come along in a while to make you really feel, and the fact that he can see past all of your defenses is what makes you want to lash out at him."

"You're nuts!" Riku crowed in sudden, near manic laughter, "You're fucking nuts!" Everyone had been implying it for the past weeks, but Yazoo was the first one to say it outright.

"That may or may not be true, but that doesn't mean that I'm not right," Yazoo continued smoothly, and Riku calmed his chortles realizing that of the two of them, he was the one sounding more crazy. "Think about it Riku. You've made your preferences quite clear to everyone since you hit that special age, yet while you don't mind stripping complete strangers with your eyes, you've never once given any of them a second thought. Suddenly, this kid comes to your school and he's all you can talk about; how much you hate him, how much he irritates you. You've never paid so much attention to anyone before, friend or foe."

Riku's head was pounding now and he really just wanted Yazoo to go. He was supposed to help Riku sort things out, but instead, he was just making everything even more confusing.

"Leave me alone," he finally said, not moving his arm from his eyes. Yazoo froze, removing his hand from his brother's hair and Riku missed the warmth immediately, but he needed to be left alone for some time. He needed to think. "Please, just go," he said again when he didn't feel his brother move from his place on the bed. This time, Yazoo did roll up and stand from the bed leaving Riku in blessed peace.

"You can't run from your feelings forever, Riku," he said before closing the door, and the words seemed to strike like a blow leaving Riku gasping. Once he knew he was alone, Riku removed his damp arm from his face, and lay staring blurrily at his skylight once again. He remained that way for many hours that night.

-:- -:- -:-

It took Roxas five minutes of pounding on the door he knew to be Sora's before the pulsing emo rock blasting inside was turned down and he heard feet shuffling towards the door. He and a bunch of the others at the party had heard the fight that Sora and Riku had gotten into, and as soon as the voices had quieted, Roxas stepped out to check on his friend only to find Riku speeding away in his black jeep and Sora storming down the street. He'd shot a communicative glance at his twin before hurrying after Sora. He had trailed the boy all the way to his apartment complex and now there he stood, face to face with a dumbfounded Sora gaping at him.

"Yeah, I followed you home," Roxas said with a small shrug, "can I come in?" Still lost for words, Sora stepped back and allowed Roxas into his home. The place was small, but other than that, it really wasn't bad at all. He could tell that there was a fairly nice apartment hiding somewhere under all of the clutter and mess of a 14, now 15 year-old-boy.

"Nice place," Roxas told him still looking around, and Sora seemed to finally snap out of his stupor. Roxas could almost see the moment when panic set in and cover-ups began formulating. "Look, Sora, I already know that you live on your own, ok?" he said forestalling the awkwardness of lies and excuses. "Axel found a note about you in Vexen's roll book and told me." Sora froze for a moment looking at his friend before gusting a sigh and running a hand through his hair.

"I knew it would all come out eventually," he sighed flopping back onto his unmade bed. "I was just hoping to enjoy the positive attention a little longer before that happened."

"Sora, nothing's 'come out,'" Roxas told him walking over to look down at him, arms crossed. "Axel told me because he knows we're tight, but he's not going to tell anyone else, and neither am I if you want to keep it under wraps." Sora gusted a sigh and sat up, smiling at Roxas. He noticed that the smile didn't quite reach his friend's eyes.

"Thanks man," he said standing. "That really means a lot to me." He headed over to the small kitchen area at one side of the apartment and started clanging around doing something and Roxas took the opportunity to ask a question that would be harder to ask face to face.

"Did you want to talk about it?" he asked, feeling more than a little awkward.

"Talk about what?" Sora called back to him.

"I heard your fight with Riku. You sounded pretty upset." He chuckled. "Hell, I thought I'd never hear some of those words leave your mouth. Hayner would be proud." Sora walked over with two glasses of water in hand. He handed one to Roxas as he walked over to a small couch in front of a small TV; the only non-cluttered place in the apartment. Sora sat on one of the arms facing the TV, and Roxas sat on the opposite arm facing Sora. He waited.

"He's just so damn full of himself,' he said taking a small sip from his glass. "You wanna know why I live alone? My mom's in a mental care facility. She completely broke down after my dad died, and I'd been living with an aunt up until just before school started. She had to move back to the mainland, I refuse to leave my mother, and so here I am. I work my ass off to keep myself fed and sheltered, still manage school and Blitz and he has the nerve to say that shit. I wanted to kill him. I've never been so pissed in my life. And to make it better, even after all of that, after the shitty treatment and psycho behavior, I still can't help but think there's still something there worth knowing."

Roxas stayed quiet, not really sure what to say. He'd never seen this side of Sora before and it was a little disconcerting. When silence stretched between them and it became apparent to Roxas that Sora wasn't going to say anything else, he took a breath and decided to go ahead and say what he had come there to say in the first place.

"Look, Sora," he started carefully, "I know that you don't need anybody's sympathy right now. Our folks died when Né and I were really little, but I still remember the looks people gave us, and how much I hated them. We just want you to know, if you ever decide that you want or need another place to stay, our house is more than big enough for one more. Luke's room is still empty most of the time. It could be yours." Sora sat quietly for a time after Roxas finished speaking, just looking down into his still full glass of water.

"Thanks, Rox," he said at length. "That means a lot, it really does, but I need a place for when my mom comes home. She's getting better; really, and as soon as she's out of the hospital, she can come home, and things will be ok again, I know it."

"Sora, how long has she been away?" Roxas couldn't help asking. Sora hesitated a bit before responding and that along spoke volumes to Roxas' ears.

"It'll be six years next month," he said quietly. Roxas refrained from commenting. "I know what you're thinking, but she _is_ coming home. She has to." Roxas still didn't say anything. There wasn't really anything he could say. Sora knew more about the situation than he did, so he would trust his friend's judgment.

"Just keep in mind what I told you, ok? Any time you need us, our door is always open." Sora smiled at that as Roxas stood taking his glass to the kitchenette.

"I was gonna tell you anyway, y'know." Sora told him, still perched on the couch. "Leon said that I should tell some friends about my situation, and you were the first person who came to mind. You really have been an awesome friend, Roxas." Roxas turned from depositing his glass into the sink full of dishes before offering one of his rare cocky grins.

"I know," he said, "Now tell me how the hell to get home from here."

-:- -:- -:-

The week following Sora's disastrous birthday party was…strange. Now that Roxas knew about Sora's 'secret' he had casually begun bringing lunches that 'happened' to be too big for him to eat alone. Sora had been mildly irritated at first, but one look at his sad excuse for a peanut butter sandwich had him pushing irritation aside and enjoying real lunch for the first time in weeks. Leon said that he should learn to rely on others a bit more. Lunch seemed like a good place to start.

Things with Riku were…weird. Ever since their fight, the silver-haired boy just seemed to want to ignore Sora, though he would catch turquoise eyes watching him from across the room at times in art class and even occasionally at the practice pool. It was baffling to Sora, but that was nothing new. Everything about Riku was baffling. He had more important things to focus on, like living through practice long enough to get to their first game that Friday.

The days passed by relatively uneventfully. Sora was still haggard from exhaustion, but things had gotten easier since Leon had started helping him organize his time. It was a pain to have to worry about every second of the day, but it meant that he was able to get decent amounts of sleep and keep up with his schoolwork, so he figured he couldn't really complain.

When Friday came around, the entire JV team was almost vibrating in anticipation. They had worked long and hard to unify as a team, and they were ready as they would ever be for their first game of the season. The JV Blades would be playing against the JV Pirates of Harbor High School, located, appropriately, by the main harbor of Destiny Island. They were decked out in new uniforms, courtesy of Serifim Corp., and the whole evening was starting out great.

"Man am I itching to kick some Pirate butt!" Hayner said grabbing Roxas in a head-lock. "Are you ready to pwn their plundering asses partner? Huh?!" Roxas struggled from Hayner's grip, knocking him upside the head for good measure.

"Calm down, psycho," he told his defense partner, "In case you forgot, we are the n00bs. Chances are we won't get off the bench until the second or third game of the season," Hayner seemed to deflate a bit at this, but both were worrying over nothing. Graav and Abus were chosen on defense for the starting line up along with Raudy, Wakka, Bickson, and Yuna, but after the first few rounds of game play, both Hayner and Roxas were traded in. and Rikku was sent in to replace Yuna. A few more plays and then Bickson was called out and Riku was sent in.

Sora watched as all of his fellow Blades took their shots at the Pirates, waiting expectantly for coach to call him in. He waited…and waited…looked at Coach Clayton, got a weird look in return…waited some more, and then the first period was over and it was time for half time.

Sora was confused.

"What the fuck is _that_ about?" Tidus swore in the locker room. "it would be one thing to save half of the team for the second period, but it's just you! What the hell?!"

"Maybe he's just being careful," Sora hedged, "I mean I haven't exactly been on my best game for the past couple of weeks."

"My _ass_, Sora," Roxas growled, fuming as well, "We're winning by like 3 points. There is no justifiable reason not to let you play.

"Hey, Coach is smart," a mocking voice called from across the room. Sora stifled a groan. This was the reason he really hadn't wanted to have this conversation in the locker room with everyone. "He knows that your queer ass would fuck us over staring at the other teams asses." Bickson sneered, and his friends laughed with him.

"Do you even hear yourself talk, retard!?!" Hayner shot back. "There are _girls_ on the other team too!" Sora tuned out as the others in the room argued around him. Stupid as it was, he was beginning to wonder if there was some validity to what Bickson was saying. He thought back on the weird look Coach had shot him that day back in the locker room after Bickson loudly accused him of checking out Tidus' butt. When Coach Auron was there, Clayton would have been on his best behavior, but now that he was running JV on his own…

It made sense. It explained why he let Bickson and company get away with their clearly over-zealous tackles, explained the strange looks Sora still got from Coach every once in a while, explained why he was being left out of the game now…but it didn't explain why he was the only one getting the crappy treatment since apparently several of the other players on the team were openly gay.

_But they all have parents to call, threaten and complain on their child's behalf,_ Sora realized with a lurch of his heart. _He knows that I'm my own and he's taking advantage of that._ The matter was all the more frustrating because Sora wasn't even sure if he was gay! It was all hearsay from Bickson, but since Coach loved his star players, he probably listened to every word from the redhead's mouth.

"Is there a problem in here, team?" Clayton's voice suddenly broke into the chaos. A full out shouting war had begun while Sora had been lost in his own thoughts.

"Yea, Coach," Tidus said stepping forward, still glaring. "We want to know why you're not letting Sora play."

"He's not yet ready for game play," Clayton said smoothly, "That is my opinion as your coach,"

"He's one of the best forwards on the team!" Tidus pressed on but was stopped by a predatory glare from Coach Clayton.

"Are you questioning my assessment abilities, Mr. Mihana?" He asked in a dangerous voice. Sora shook his head and buried his face in his hands as he saw that Tidus was actually planning to answer the question, "Because if you are, you may join your friend on the bench for the remainder of the game and stay there for the rest of the season for all I care. I will not stand for insubordination on _my_ team, so I'll ask you again. _Is there a problem, Mr. Mihana?_" Tidus glared at his coach for a moment more before backing down, he sent an apologetic look towards Sora over his shoulder before dropping his head and slumping his shoulders.

"No, Sir. No problem."

"I should hope not. Now all of you get back out there. Second period is about to begin and I don't want to hear another peep out of the lot of you!" Sora followed the rest of the Blades back out to their seats, dragging his finned feed as he went. He watched as their team slaughtered the Pirates winning 9 to 5 but somehow, the victory was not the sweet thing that it was supposed to be. In fact, it tasted decidedly bitter on his tongue.

-:- -:- -:-

The team was in an uproar after that first game and Clayton was not happy about it. They all knew better than to say anything to his face, but their Captains knew that it was their responsibility to speak to Coach on the teams behalf, and so they did.

"Sir, the team is really upset," Wakka said standing beside Riku in the coach's office. "Sora's good. There's no real reason to keep him out of game play, ya?" Riku remained silent, but his stance and the look in his eyes showed clear support for what Wakka had said. Clayton glared at the two boys, sneering just slightly.

"Very well," he said after a thick silence. "Since everyone seems to doubt my judgment on the matter, I'll offer a compromise." The captains waited expectantly. "I will allow Mr. Holani to play if and only if he proves himself to me satisfactorily."

"And how is he supposed to do that?" Riku asked in a carefully controlled voice. The whole thing was bullshit. None of the others had to "prove" themselves in order to play. That's what try-outs were for. None of them would have made the team if they weren't ready.

"Simple," Clayton smiled. "All he must do is score…against Mr. Bickson." Wakka tensed at those words and began protesting. Riku understood perfectly well why. Bickson was easily one of the best blitzers in the school. He could hold his own against both Kida and Ariel easily. The only reason he hadn't made Varsity or been made captain of JV was because of his bad attitude and disrespect for the coaches. It was hard enough for Wakka or any of the other star players on the team to score against the guy, and Clayton wanted Sora to do it?

"Fine," Riku said breaking into Wakka's protests. Wakka gave him a cockeyed look and turned his protests on Riku.

"Look man, just 'cause you got issues with the kid don't mean you should be trying to keep him out of the game! There's _no way_—"

"He can do it," Riku said cutting him off again. This time Wakka looked at him like he was crazy. "You've seen him play. With a little extra training, he'll manage. He only has to do it once, right?" At this both boys returned their attention to their coach who was blandly watching them.

"Yes," he drawled, "one time during practice. If he can do that, I'll have no reason to doubt his abilities." _You have no reason to doubt his abilities now you fucking asswipe!_ Riku growled in his head, but outwardly, he just nodded.

Both boys exited the office, Wakka still shooting him doubtful looks.

"I don't know about this, man," he said. "Sora's still a little green, ya."

"He'll manage," was all Riku returned.

"Ya, well…you get to tell 'im." Wakka smiled broadly and gave a friendly smack on Riku's back before moving ahead toward their changing area. Riku glared after him grumbling under his breath. He hadn't anticipated that turn of events.

-:- -:- -:-

Sora opened his locker and began pulling out his equipment. It had been an awkward day as everyone either asked what was up and why he hadn't played in Fridays game or cursed Coach Clayton's name to hell in every way possible. Sora just sighed listening as the rest of the team complained around him. It was nice to know that they all cared so much, but Sora hated calling attention to himself, or as is more accurate in this case, having attention called to him. He noticed the sudden hush that fell over the locker room and took that to mean that Wakka and Riku had finished their talk with Coach and were ready to deliver the verdict.

He looked up to see both of them rounding the corner and heading his way and was more than a little surprised when Riku stepped forward to speak with him. He was not looking particularly excited to be talking to Sora, in fact, he looked down right awkward, but he met Sora eyes as he opened his mouth to speak.

"So here's the deal," he began gruffly. "Coach says he'll put you in rotation but…" Sora closed his eyes waiting for it. There was always a 'but' and if Riku was hesitating on it, he knew it had to be bad. "You have to score on Bickson." Raucous laughter from the corner where Bickson and his friends had their lockers erupted and filled the locker room at those words. Sora felt his face immediately flame with anger and embarrassment.

"I have to _what_?" he hissed, glaring daggers at Riku.

"You heard right," Wakka interjected. "All you have to do is score on Bickson and you're in. Lame; I know, but it's better than nothin', ya? Riku thinks you can do it, and you know what, so do I. A little extra coaching from us and we'll have you playing by next game." Sora stared at them blankly.

First off, "_all you have to do is score on Bickson_." Clearly they were delusional. The way Wakka had said that, you'd think they were talking about something easily attainable. Why not score on Kida while he was at it? Or hell, since blitzing was now apparently so easy for him, why stop there? Why not score on Jecht Mihana, or take on all of the Zanarkand Abes single handed? They couldn't be serious.

Secondly, _"Riku thinks you can do it."_ _What?!?_ Last he checked, Riku didn't give a flying fuck about anything that had to do with him. He was half expecting this whole 'score on Bickson' thing to be Riku's idea, because it was impossible. It just wasn't going to happen. But if both Riku _and_ Wakka thought he could do it, then maybe…

Thirdly, _"a little extra coaching…"_ which meant they wanted to meet with him outside of practice? He'd just made his schedule for the week with Leon and he didn't have a single second of wiggle room unless he cut out some sleep or some personal time. Leon had warned him that those two were the most important on his schedule and the last he should look to cut, but if they really wanted him to practice more, he really didn't have a choice cause he really wanted a chance to play.

That of course led to the last point; _"we'll have you playing by next game."_ Clearly they were insane.

"You guys have got to be joking," Sora said dropping onto the bench behind him and dropping his head into his hands, but alas, they were not. Tidus and Hayner both were cheering him on, and while Roxas looked a bit apprehensive, he also voiced his opinion that Sora could to it.

"I'll bend over and take it up the ass before that happens!" Bickson called over all of the supportive voices and oddly, that made Sora feel a little better. After all, he knew Bickson's secret, and while it did make him blush to the very tip of his ears, the image of Bickson moaning on his knees while some other guy pounded into him from behind was highly amusing.

-:- -:- -:-

And so it came to pass that Sora entered into one of the most hellish weeks of his life. He woke an hour and a half early so that he could get to school an hour early so that he could work with Wakka, Riku, Hayner, Tidus, and Roxas on improving his game enough by Wednesday to score on Bickson and play on Friday. Not for one moment during the entire training process did Sora honestly believe that it was possible. Maybe in a couple of weeks, but with only three days worth of training, it just wasn't going to happen.

Horrifically exhausting and craptacular as the experience was, it was in an odd way very pleasing as well. The fact that his captains and his friends were willing to come in the extra hour to work with him filled his chest with something warm and wonderful, and it was somehow enough to get him past the exhaustion and the extra body aches he gained.

Wakka was his main teacher. He had worked with Bickson the longest and knew most of his weaknesses. Thanks to Wakka, Sora was able to learn how to exploit those weaknesses to best advantage. Everyday, during practice, he watched and he was able to pick up almost immediately on Bickson's tendency to aim a little to the left when he tackled, the over confidence with which he went for his goals, the way he tended to focus in on scoring, tuning all else out. They were small weaknesses, but they were something.

Riku was also, oddly, a constant support. He didn't say much, and he usually had the same flat or bored expression on his face, but he was there with the rest of them every morning, and even occasionally offered some advice to give Sora a little extra speed or accuracy. Sora was again confused by the mixed signals.

After two mornings and one evening of practicing swimming tricks, evasions and straight shots, Sora felt little more prepared to face Bickson than he did the first day. Every practice had gone the same. At some point during one of their games, someone would send the ball to Sora, Sora would grab it, some of the other team's people would come to cover him, Bickson was always one of them. Sora would always break towards Bickson, and though he often came close to dodging his tackles and going for the goal, he would be unsuccessful and end up losing the ball and yet another shot at actually playing in Friday's game. It was hopeless. He had no doubts that the whole exercise was completely hopeless, but others were cheering him on, counting on him, and as long as that was true, he couldn't give up.

He swam in the tank on Wednesday with complete apprehension. This was their last day in the tank before the game on Friday, which mean it was his last shot at Bickson if he wanted in at all that week. He knew it was useless, but he kept trying all the same. Practice was nearing at its end. Sora had tried only twice in the 6 plays they'd run to get in his shot. This was their last go and it was his last chance. He looked around at his team, which consisted of everyone who was working with him to help him improve except Tidus, and nodded. They gave him returning nods and thumbs-ups, and even Riku gave a steady gaze that Sora found calming somehow. They set to their starting positions and waited. The buzzer sounded and the ball was launched.

Riku and Bickson went for the blitz off. Bickson got the ball. Sora made sure to stay on Bickson, searching for an opportunity to steal the ball or interfere with the other boy in any way that he could. He could see that Bickson was getting irritated, and that was one thing he knew would work to his advantage. Bickson got sloppy when he was pissed. If anything was gonna help Sora get his shot, it would be that. So he dogged the red head, not being particularly successful in stopping his passes all of the time, but managing to be a general nuisance, and he smiled as he saw that Bickson was getting angrier and angrier.

He chose to go for unexpected that day. The idea was to do something so out of the blue that Bickson would be too distracted to properly block his shot. He saw his opportunity about half way through the play. Bickson, still irritated as ever, was lining up a shot. He had just broken through tackles from Wakka and Roxas and was taking aim. Sora had been swimming above him the whole time, an ever-present shadow that Bickson was now attempting to ignore. This worked to Sora's advantage as Bickson forcefully released the ball. Sora had been watching and waiting. He knew that what he was trying would be tricky, and chances were he'd miss, but the whole situation was ridiculous already. No harm in adding another element of the bizarre.

As Bickson prepared to release the ball towards it's target, Sora had begun taking a fast dive. By the time Bickson realized what was happening it was too late. Sora had positioned himself in an intercept course with the speeding ball. It was something that just wasn't done. Once a ball went flying towards the goal, usually, the only thing it its path would be the goalkeep, but by some stroke of karma or luck or some higher power, Sora managed to perfectly grab the ball from the water and them pass it unerringly to a waiting Riku floating near the bottom of the tank.

There was no time to look back at Bickson's reaction. He had to get to the opposing goal and he figure that after something like that, the redhead would be hot on his heels. Sora swam for all he was worth, aware that the ball was passing between his team as he went. When he made it to a shooting position, he turned to Hayner, who had the ball, and saw the path to him was still clear. Maybe this would be easier than he thought. As the ball came twirling towards him, however, he became very aware of a looming presence behind him. He managed to grab the ball just before Bickson, and make another dive as the older boy swiped at his head. Bickson followed, and Sora rose back up to put himself in position for his attempt. This was it.

He and Bickson faced off for a moment that couldn't have lasted for more than a fraction of a second, and then Bickson, fuming in his suit, made to tackle. Sora remembered what Wakka had said about Bickson tending left in his tackles, and the boys anger help a lot in screwing up his accuracy. Sora twisted his body so that the left side of his torso moved forward as his body twisted in a clockwise rotation. Bickson's webbed foot glanced off the side of Sora's wetsuit, and Sora continued his rotation moving slightly downward and using the momentum of his rotation to send the ball towards the goal from below. Raudy had not been expecting the angle, and though he tried, he was unable to get to the ball in time. It went easily into the goal.

_It went IN!!_

Sora had a split moment of elation before a jolt of sudden agony tore everything else away. The pain was excruciating. It blossomed across his side and through his chest with such ferocity that it left him paralyzed, a fact that a detached part of his brain realized was a very bad thing while in game and in the tank. All of the air had been forced from his lungs, and he was too busy trying to remember how to breathe again to focus on something so trivial as moving. He was unaware of the fact that he was quickly sinking to the bottom of the tank, unaware of the fact that without his facilitating movements, his suit was no longer providing him with air. He vaguely felt the water filling his facemask and covering his face, but this was of no concern to his body. As soon as his lungs had recovered enough to function again, they did what was natural; what they were meant to do. With a sharp and sudden expansion of his chest, Sora's body tried to take in a lung full of air. Unfortunately for Sora, there was no air left.

-:- -:- -:-

Riku had been watching as Sora made his shot. He had to admit, he was impressed. That little move snatching the ball right from under Bickson's nose was classic, and the shot he made had been pretty damn tricky. Letting a small smile play across his lips, he allowed himself the moment of pride he felt for the smaller boy. It had barely been 3 days and he had made his shot. It was probably mostly luck, but that didn't matter. The shot was made, so Sora was in for Friday.

Everyone else had been watching the ball, but Riku's eyes had lingered on Sora still trying to understand the strange feelings that swirled around inside of him when he though of the brunet. His brother's words stayed with him over the few days he'd been working with Sora, and he was beginning to wonder if there was some validity to what Yazoo had told him. It was a good thing that he'd been watching Sora at that moment, otherwise, he never would have seen what happen next. Immediately after Sora had made his shot, Bickson had come from behind him, smashing a knee up into his suit while bringing fists down from above. White hot rage filled him as he watched Sora's body go rigid and sink like a rock to the bottom of the tank, unmoving.

That was defiantly not good.

Anyone who's played Blitzball for a significant amount of time learned quickly that a still body in the tank meant eminent (or present) death, and that realization washed away the rage towards Bickson and sent Riku's heart into his throat. He kicked furiously using every speed swimming technique he knew to get to Sora as quickly as possible, but it still felt like he was moving through molasses, and the stillness of the suit below him seemed to weigh his limbs down with every kick or stroke.

By the time Riku had nearly reached Sora, the others were finally pulling their heads out of their asses to notice that there was a problem. Riku was only vaguely aware of the fact that others were swimming towards him and hoped for their sake that they would stay out of his way. The last thing he needed was extra bodies trying to help but only slowing him down.

When he was close enough to see Sora's face, he saw the small body jerk slightly, azure-blue eyes wide with terror as he mouthed for air and found none forthcoming. Riku had him and was swimming for the surface with speed he didn't even realize he possessed almost immediately, but even still, time seemed to be moving too slow. He could remember in very fine detail every moment of that mad sprint for the surface; the way the body in his arms was tense then suddenly just went limp; the way the light faded from those frightened eyes; the way they stared glassily at him from behind his plastic mask, vacant yet somehow imploring. Something in him twisted painfully as the realization crushed into him. Sora was dying in his arms.

When they broke the surface, Wakka and Raudy were already out of the water waiting to pull Sora out. Most Blitzers were trained to handle game related emergencies such as this long enough for the on-call medic to arrive so at least the veteran players knew what to do. Riku unceremoniously ripped off the mask covering Sora's face as they took him. His lips were blue. Riku remained where he was, removing his own mask and treading water as he watched Wakka turn Sora's head to allow excess water to flow out, quickly check for breathing and for a pulse, then tilt Sora's head back to begin mouth-to-mouth. He remained in the water as they worked, watching for signs or revival, allowing the liquid around him to hide the trembling of his body. He willed Sora to wake up, never taking his eyes away from him. He couldn't die. Riku knew that he wouldn't be able to take that. He'd already had too much death in his life.

There was a jerk, a choking sound, and then Wakka and Raudy, who had stayed at Wakka's side, were helping Sora roll on his side as the water was expelled from his body and color returned to his pasty skin. His watery, blood-shot eyes cracked open, and the first thing they saw was Riku, staring intently. The contact was brief as his small frame was again wracked with coughs and his eyes squeezed shut again, but it was enough. He was ok.

Riku's attention was called to the side of the pool where shouts and scuffling could be heard. He looked up in time to see Roxas moving towards Bickson, fist raised to punch only to be stopped by Hayner and Tidus who pulled him back. Bickson was smirking at the display, but it was quickly wiped from his face when both Tidus and Hayner suddenly turned on him, one delivering a punch to the jaw and the other a knee to the gut. Bickson had a murderous gleam in his eyes as he leapt forward to retaliate, but Graav and Abus were there to hold him back and then Coach Clayton was there with the on-call medic and Riku stopped paying attention as he lay back in the water and stared up at the darkening sky above him.

-:- -:- -:-

Sora lay in the recovery room, looking up at the florescent lights and doing his best to breathe shallowly. His head hurt, his eyes hurt, his lungs hurt, his side hurt, it hurt to breathe, It hurt to swallow, it hurt to think. Everything just hurt, and more than anything, he just wanted his mom. Wasn't _that_ a laugh? He hadn't really had a mother in almost 6 years now; probably wouldn't be getting one anytime soon, and here he was wishing for something that was impossible for him to have. He was pretty much on his own in this. It really was kinda funny.

He let out a small chuckle and regretted it immediately as the pain in his ribs seemed to quadruple ten times. He hissed squeezing his eyes shut and curling up a little on his side, which only served to bring on more pain. He moaned pathetically struggling to find a position that didn't hurt and failing to do so. He looked up as he heard the sound of the medic returning and quickly tried to hide his discomfort. The man stopped beside his bed looking down at him blandly with crimson eyes before moving towards him again.

"Sit up," he told him simply and Sora did what he was told…or at least tried to. It's very hard to sit up when every muscle in your body protests against it. Strong hands where then on his back supporting him as he moved into a sitting position and he found his face chest level with the other man. There was a name badge pinned to his light blue Lab coat that read "V. Valentine"

"How do you feel?" V. Valentine asked. Sora gave him a flat expression.

"I just almost died. How do you think I feel?" he croaked. This won him a small smirk from the medic and then something freezing was smacked onto his side and he hiss-groaned at the shock of cold and sharp jab of pain that resulted.

"Looks like you have a couple of bruised ribs," he was told, "but everything else checks out fine. You'll need to ice your side for the next 48 to 72 hours. Physical exertion should be kept to a minimum…" The medic guy continued rattling off the various things Sora would need to do to help his injury heal faster, handing him pamphlets and pointing to specific diagrams with stretches and such. All he really got out of it was that despite the fact that he had managed to do as Coach said and score on Bickson, he was injured and therefore, out of the game that week and possibly the next week as well.

Sora came out of his thoughts to realize that Mr. Valentine had left the room. He heard shuffling by the door and turned with some difficulty to see who was there. It was Riku. He was back in his street clothes, leaning casually against the doorframe looking lost in thought. When Sora moved, he looked up, and their eyes met again for a moment. Sora was taken back to the first blurry image he had seen when he first came to. He could still remember the intensity in Riku's turquoise eyes and it somehow sent his heart racing.

"Hey," Riku said stepping into the room, allowing Sora to straighten out of the awkward twist he was in.

"Hey," Sora replied with his roughened voice, breaking their eye contact. Silence filled the room for a moment, and then, "I hear you were the one who pulled me out." He glanced back at Riku, and the other boy gave a small nod.

"Yeah," was all he said. The lapsed into silence again and then something struck Sora as odd.

"Hey, aren't you supposed to be with everyone else getting chewed out about sportsmanship and stuff?"

"I ditched," Riku shrugged, but Sora could read in the awkwardness of his stance, the way his eyes kept looking and then looking away; Riku was worried about him. He'd come to check on him. A small smile began pulling at his lips, then Valentine, the medic was back with a medium sized bundle in hand.

"These are adhesive cold pads. They should be good for about an hour each. Take them. Use them. I want you back in here tomorrow morning and tomorrow afternoon so that I can check you over again. You may go now." Sora blinked a couple of times, watching as the medic left the room again. He gave a small shrug then moved to stand. The linoleum was shockingly cold on his feet, and unexpected pain shot through his body as he straightened to a standing position. He swayed for a moment, then Riku was there helping to steady him. Sora nodded his thanks before pushing out of the older boy's grip to hobble out of the office on is own.

He made it back to his locker in one piece and thought that maybe he'd be able to do this…that is of course until he tried to bend over and pull his suit the rest of the way off. The top had been peeled away already so that his ribs could be iced and wrapped, but his legs still had to be dealt with. He was almost sobbing in pain by the time he pulled his suit the rest of the way off. Pulling his shorts and sandals on was no problem, but then he got to his shirt. The medic guy had told him that he wouldn't be able to lift his arms over his head for a few days still. Whimpering quietly to himself, he tried anyway only to bite back a scream as ripping pain tore through him again.

"Leave it," Riku's voice came out of nowhere startling him and he noticed for the first time that his Vice-Captain was standing at the end of the bank of lockers. How long had he been there watching? Sora didn't know, but then Riku was walking towards him, Sora's bundle of icepacks in hand. He set the ice packs down grabbed Sora's gamesuit then vanished around a corner. A few moments later, he returned suitless, and Sora could only assume that it had been checked and stored for him.

"C'mon." Riku proceeded to grab Sora's bag and shirt and icepacks then walk away shoving the shirt into the bag. Sora stared after him dumbly for a moment before levering to his feet to follow.

"Where are we going?" Sora croaked as he followed Riku out of the building. Man, he couldn't wait for his voice to go back to normal.

"I'm giving you a ride home," Riku told him, and Sora froze.

"You're what?"

"Did I stutter?" Riku stopped at his black jeep tossing Sora's things into the back before getting in, leaning over and opening the passenger door. Sora stared for another moment, but Riku's sudden glare got him moving around the vehicle to carefully ease into the passenger's seat. He had probably missed his bus anyway, and he really didn't feel like waiting another half hour at his stop then riding the bus half naked.

Riku turned onto the main road leaving the school then asked Sora where he lived. Sora gave his cross streets, Riku nodded, and then they just drove in silence for a time, both lost in their own thoughts.

"Bickson's not gonna let up on you, yknow." Riku said just loudly enough to be heard over the wind rushing around them. "I don't know what his damage is, but he turns psycho around you for some reason. I mean, he's always been an asshole, but he's never been this bad before." Both were quiet again for a time. Sora told Riku where to turn.

"Maybe," Riku said, and Sora thought he heard hesitation, "Maybe it would be best if you just quit the team." Sora stared at Riku for a moment in shock before facing forward again, hurt and insulted, and more than a little angry. After everything he'd done to get where he was, did Riku really expect him to just drop it all because some ass was being…well…an ass?

"Yeah, and maybe it would be best if you bite me." Sora's eyes widened when Riku actually chuckled a little at his words. Riku? Laughing in his presence? Stop the presses, run for your lives! Hell was freezing over, pigs were flying and surly the end of the world was nigh.

"How'd I know you would say something like that?" Sora felt himself smiling at the almost warm quality of the other boy's voice, and he felt suddenly a bit more at ease in the car.

"Because I've chewed you out enough for you to know all of my snarky come backs by now," he grinned, remembering not to chuckle, "Watch out, I might deck you again." Riku laughed and Sora's smile broadened.

"I wanted to apologize about that," Riku said then, voice taking on a somber tone. "At your birthday thing I mean. I was out of line." Sora stared at him for a full thirty seconds in complete shock. First a laugh, now an apology. If it weren't for the throbbing pain that spoke loud and clear at his side, he'd have pinched himself to make sure he wasn't dreaming. Dragging himself from his shock, Sora let a smile stretch his lips and went for light in his response.

"Whatever Riku," he said, shifting and wincing as he tried to get more comfortable in his seat. "I've already figured out you're an ass. I think I'm getting used to it. I wouldn't mind seeing more of this side of you though. Maybe I should almost die more often?" Riku smiled, shook his head, rolled his eyes, and kept driving. Sora decided that he really liked Riku's smiles. There was something almost timid, almost self-deprecating yet still entirely confident about them that Sora found very endearing. He'd be quite alright with it if Riku chose to smile around him more often.

They remained in comfortable silence for the rest of the ride, broken only when Sora had to direct Riku where to go. Riku parked in a loading zone in front of his apartment complex and insisted on carrying his things into the building for him meaning Riku grabbed and glared when Sora tried to take them himself. Embarrassing as it was, Sora really didn't think he'd have managed it on his own.

"What the hell happened to you?" Cid asked Sora when he stumbled into the complex. Sora could only imagine what he looked like, bruised and bandaged and hobbling around half-naked.

"Got hurt during practice," he said wincing with every breath. "It's cool though, I should still be able to work my shift. Sorry I'm late." Cid looked at Sora like he'd just declared himself a traveler from another world and Sora could feel Riku's eyes boring into him from his side.

"Get your ass to your room!" Cid barked, "and if I see you anywhere near this desk for the rest of the week, I'm kicking you out on you ass, y'got me?!" Sora blushed and nodded then headed down the hall to his room as quickly as he could manage, listening as Cid grumbled after him.

"You work here too?" Riku asked, and Sora nodded nervously. Things were definitely taking an unexpected turn here. He had not expected Riku to find out about this secret, but it seemed that circumstances were working against him.

"I only pay about a third of the rent and he let's me work the rest off at the desk. It's a pretty amazing deal really."

"And how often do you work?"

"Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays 6-10. It's not bad. I just sit at the desk answer phones and stuff. I usually get most of my homework done while I'm there."

"And then you work at Pearl on weekends too?" Sora nodded. A lot of students shopped at Black Pearl as it was a great place to get Blitz equipment and stuff for swimming, so most people knew he worked there.

They stopped in front of his door and Sora unlocked it, awkwardly thanking Riku for his help and waving the other boy off. He closed the door after Riku left and leaned against it, squeezing his eyes against the pain. He was battered, and bruised, and would probably be in a lot of pain for a long time, but he couldn't help but smile. It was strange, but he was oddly indebted to Bickson now. It seems that a blow to the ribs and a near-death experience was finally what it had taken to break through Riku's ice.

-:- -:- -:-

OMG! It finally happened! Man…I've been waiting forever to get to this chapter and FINALLY, I made it. Yays! Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this super long chapter because I likely won't get to update again before September. Sorry ;; But thank you all for your wonderful reviews! They pushed me and urged me on to get this chapter out. I can't help but fee that the whole second half was a little rushed, but…I'm over it.

Things of note in this chapter: AkuRoku was requested by **Chubby-King-Chocobo**, so I worked a little into this chap and more should be forthcoming later; We finally got to see into Riku's head and understand a little about his behaviour; We met some of riku's fam! (hearts forever to domestic!Seph and Yazoo); _Major_ developments on the RS front; Leon, Cloud, and Vincent kick ass; and actual forward motion in the plot of this tale. This was actually really fun to write! Can't wait for the next chap!

Random Trivia:

- Owl Pellets – the coughed up fur/bones/remnants of animals that owls eat.

- Zanarkand Abes – the team Jecht and Tidus played for in FFX

- Last Chapter everyone knew that a TI-83 is a graphing calculator by Texas Instruments, but for this story, we'll let it be Twilight Instruments…as in Twilight Town. :is a dork:

- This story does actually have dates and stuff attached based on this year's calendar. Incidentally, I've set Sora's b-day as Oct 20th (I decided that they don't celebrate Halloween in this universe)

- This chapter was roughly 4,500 words longer than my chapter average for this story.

Next chapter: The School Demonstration. Beware of fluff and relationship development.


	9. Ch 7: The Secret Life of Travis Bickson

**Standard Disclaimer:** If I draw them all enough, maybe one day they'll be mine…but I'm not holding my breath.

**Notes: **OMG SO LATE! Ok, so just an fyi…I lied again. No Demonstration this chapter, but a bunch of fairly important other things so…yeah…here you go…

**Warnings:** Gratuitous use of Disney and Square characters, language, at least one homosexual relationship, bigoted ass-holes, semi non-con encounters, made-up culture and language, lots of Blitzball, and general teen awkwardness. Enjoy!

-:-finem-:-

**Life on the Blitz**

**Chapter 7: **

**The Secret Life of Travis Bickson**

_What am I doing?_ Riku thought as he made his way down Ana Moala Blvd. He still remembered the way to Sora's apartment complex after dropping him off the previous night. Things had been…intense yesterday. He could have easily denied any feelings other than irritation toward Sora Holani any time before, but in the face of practically watching him die, some rather interesting revelations had been made. It's amazing what a brush with death can do to one's perspective.

After Sora proved to be alright, he'd felt like a complete ass for the way he had always treated the kid. He really had just been misplacing his frustrations. After finding out about Sora's less than optimal living situation, he felt like an even bigger ass. The things he'd said at Sora's party were so completely off base and completely uncalled for. If he were a lesser man, he'd hide from the boy in shame…yet somehow he found himself driving along the street where he knew Sora lived, scanning the sidewalk for familiar chestnut spikes and bronzed skin.

There were of course all kinds of variables that would make the whole endeavor a waste of time—he didn't know what time Sora left his house, it was possible that he was getting a ride from someone else, maybe he was skipping school altogether which actually made the most sense—but Riku had been compelled that morning to check on the kid. He'd looked like unholy hell the night before, and there was part of Riku—a very small nagging part that he did his best to deny existed—that was really worried. He tried to come up with some other excuse for his return to the Highwind Apartments and realized he had none.

_I__t's only natural that I worry, _he temporized. _I'm his Captain after all. I'm just checking the condition of one of my team._

Vice_-Captain, duche-bag, _a nagging voice reminded him, _and you don't see Wakka bumping around here anywhere do you?_

As he was formulating a very cleaver and biting counter argument to himself, he caught sight of a hunch-backed figure hobbling down the street. It was sad really. He knew that his father and others on the islands did their best to ensure that there were jobs and homes for all of the inhabitants of Destiny, yet and still there were people like that poor soul; left to wander the streets, sick and hungry and generally miserable.

Riku was just deciding to get on to school giving up on his very captainesque inquiry into the well-being of a fellow teammate when he noticed the hunched figure…shift its hunch? That wasn't normal. Upon further inspection, he realized that the 'hunch' was actually a backpack, and the 'figure' was actually none other than Sora Holani struggling his way down towards the near-by bus stop. Riku almost crashed into a parked meter-maid-mobile he was so overcome with incredulity.

He had completely by-passed the other boy in his shock, so continued down to the corner to circle the block. At the speed Sora was moving, he knew he'd be able to go around a few thousand times before the scrawny boy made it to his destination. As he rounded the corner to get back to where Sora was, he noticed the large city bus driving down the lane and stopping at the far corner of the street where the bus stop was. He watched as Sora made a feeble attempt to flag the bus down and even give chase. The result wasn't pretty.

"Hey!" Riku called pulling up to the curb where a couple of good Samaritans were assisting Sora back to his feet. There were actually tears forming in the corners of the boy's eyes as he looked up rubbing at his nose and forehead. Apparently concrete to the face didn't agree with him at 7 in the morning.

"Riku?!" Sora said in a shocked, slightly nasally voice. "Wh-what are you doing here?!?"

Riku couldn't help but chuckle as he watched the flustered boy scrub frantically at his face and eyes, trying to regain his composure.

"I had to do a couple of things for my dad on this side of town before school," he lied. "Spotted you on your way to the bus stop. You want a lift?"

A look that crossed somewhere between confusion and delight flashed across Sora's face as he made to rush to the passenger side door, remembering too late that 'rush' was not currently one of his equipped abilities.

"Oooooowwww," he moaned piteously as he made his way much more slowly to the car. "I didn't realize it was possible for the human body to hurt this much."

"You do realize that smart people would have just stayed home," Riku commented dryly helping Sora settle his bag in the back seat.

"But that creepy medic guy said he wanted to see me this morning, and we have a quiz coming up in geometry, and I've gotta make sure my lab partner doesn't get himself killed and—"

"Sora," Riku said looking at the shorter boy and cutting him off. "You're whining."

"Right, sorry…" Sora said blushing.

Riku just rolled his eyes as he pulled back into traffic. This kid was hopeless

-:- -:- -:-

"Well, you're lungs sound alright," Vincent said stepping back with his stethoscope. Sora had settled on 'Vincent' since 'Mr. Valentine' seemed a little…raunchy and 'Creepy medic guy' was a little long winded…not to mention rude. Besides, that's what Riku had called him when the silver haired boy dropped Sora off in front of the locker rooms.

"Don't let Vincent creep you out," he'd said. "He's a bit of a freak but he knows his shit," and if Riku called him Vincent, then the rest of the team probably did too, so Vincent it was. Vincent, the Creepy Medic Guy…VCMG for short. Sora was pretty sure the pain killers were starting to get to him at this point.

"You're not allowed into the tank for at least the next week, and I want you to pay careful attention to your body for the next several days. Lungs don't take kindly to being filled with water and it's very possible for infection to set in. If you start feeling ill, I want you to seek immediate medical attention, is that clear?"

Sora nodded and got to his feet.

"Trust me," he said, "no one wants to avoid major medical problems more than I do. Thanks for all of your help, um, Vincent." His words were greeted with a cool raise of the eyebrow and Sora took that as a sign that he could go.

"That was awkward," Roxas said from the doorway, slinging both of their bags over a shoulder and falling into step beside Sora. He had called the night before asking where Sora had disappeared to after the rest of them had been royally chewed out by Coach Clayton, and Sora had told him everything that had happened. Roxas had been waiting at the locker room when Sora had gotten there to see Vincent.

"All I can say is I'm glad this school has someone certified to give me a clean bill of health. I don't have insurance yet and there's no way I could afford going to an actual hospital right now."

"All I can say is I'm glad this school has a certified medical technician at all. That was really fuckin' scary last night, Sora." Roxas said reaching a hand out to stop his friend. "Like, really. Did anyone tell you? Your lips were blue. You weren't breathing."

"Hey, I was there remember?" Sora said, flushing a little and averting his eyes. Even though the whole mess was completely not his fault, it was still really embarrassing to have been so vulnerable in front of his entire team. "I may not have been aware for the whole resuscitation part, but I'm still feeling the ache from chest compressions and I swear my lungs still feel a little watery."

"Well just let us know if you're not feeling right," Roxas said starting to walk again. "I heard what Vince said and I'm gonna let the others know, too. If you even think there might be something wrong, say the word and we'll be there. We got in a couple of good hits last night, but if we see Bickson even looking at you wrong again…" he let the sentence hang.

Sora flushed again at the declaration of loyalty. Crappy as the whole situation was, it was really nice to see that his friends cared so much about him and his well being. Between that and Riku's new-found tolerance for his presence, it seemed a lot of good came from Bickson's being a psycho.

Speaking of whom, Sora found that his mind seemed to keep wondering back to the topic of Travis Bickson now that he was on his feet again. The guy had been a perpetual ass to him since their first encounter, and it was something that Sora had begun to just accept as fact, but after the events of the previous night, he couldn't help but wonder what was really going on with the redhead. What had Sora ever done to him to piss the guy off so much?

"Do you know what's gonna happen to him?" Sora asked Roxas as they headed towards their lockers.

"I haven't had a chance to put my finger on the pulse of that particular rumor mill yet," Roxas shrugged apologetically. "Tidus and Hayner will probably have more information on that front."

"Or you could just ask me," a familiar female voice said halting Roxas as he reached up to spin in his combination.

"Meg, hey," Sora said, tilting his head to the side raising a questioning eyebrow. "Haven't seen you around much since try-outs. What's up?"

"I was looking for you, cutie" she said stepping forward to tweak Sora's nose. "Wanted to see for myself what kind of damage that bonehead did this time." Her voice was playful, confident, but her face fell as she got a good look at the diminutive brunet.

Sora began to fidget where he stood. He knew what she was seeing. There were dark circles under his eyes because he hadn't been able to sleep very well the night before with the injuries and all, his already small frame seemed even smaller under the large clothes he was wearing because they were easier to pull over his head. Generally, he just looked not good. He knew it, had seen it in the mirror earlier that morning, but there wasn't much he could do about it. He was basically fine now, so there really was no reason for him to lie around convalescing.

"God, you're a mess!" Meg exclaimed finishing her inspection. All humor had left her voice. "Why the hell are you even here today, you idiot!?"

Sora open his mouth to launch into the same explanation he had given Riku but she cut him off before he could begin.

"No, y'know what? Whatever. I'm gonna kick his sorry ass next time I see him. He is _so_ lucky he's suspended right now!"

Sora shared a quizzical look with Roxas as Meg continued fuming.

"Look, Sora." She said focusing her attention on him once again. "Just try to stay away from Trav, alright? You've probably figured this out already, but he's bad news, especially for you." She paused a moment, and in that moment regained her more than slightly cocky demeanor.

"You'll be pleased to know, by the way, that he's off the team, and yours truly has been invited to take his place." She gave a flip of her hair over her shoulder. "Anyway, boys, I've got other business to handle before classes. I'm glad you're still alive Sora, and I'm sorry that Bickson is such an asshole. Hopefully now that he's off the team, you won't have to put up with that bullshit anymore."

"Uh…thanks…I guess," Sora said as Meg walked away. He turned to Roxas. "What the heck was that all about?" he asked. Roxas just shrugged shaking his head as he turned back to unlock his locker.

"Seems to me like she knows an awful lot about Bickson. I wonder what the connection is."

Sora wondered that himself. When he thought about it a little, it had been Meg to point out in the first place that Bickson might have it in for him. C cubed she had called him. A closet case, but how had she known that? It didn't seem like general knowledge with the team. Some joked about it, but Meg seemed pretty confident in her assertion. It seemed to Sora that he had missed as lot by not probing Meg for more information. In light of recent events, he vowed to fix that mistake as soon as possible.

-:- -:- -:-

School turned out to be an extremely awkward endeavor. He really might as well have stayed home. He made it almost half way through 1st period before Ms. Gainsborough finally sent him to Leon with a note, Roxas walking with him as his designated bag carrier person.

"You realize that if you had a parent at home with you, there's no way in hell they would have let you out of the house in this condition, right?" Roxas told him as they moved slowly through the halls to keep up with Sora's pace.

"Yeah, yeah…I'm staring to figure that out," Sora grumbled hobbling beside his friend. He really didn't think he was as bad off as he felt now. The whole experience really felt like it should have been a dream even though he had the bruises and body aches to prove it wasn't.

"I think this on top of all my missed sleep is starting to rot my brain."

"Come to our place after school, Sora." Roxas told him stopping just outside of the Counseling Office. "If you get to go home now, I know you'll probably sleep for most of the day, but it's stupid for you to be staying alone while you're hurt. I already told my uncle what's up, and like I told you before, our doors are always open.

Sora squirmed in place feeling happy and uncomfortable and embarrassed and…just a whole of things at the same time.

"I guess that would make sense wouldn't it?" he said looking up at Roxas finally with a self deprecating grimace. "God, I feel lame."

"Well unfortunately Sora, you're not invincible so you're gonna get hurt sometimes and there's nothing wrong with letting people help when you do. You'd be an idiot if you didn't, really."

"Well…I guess it's a step in the right direction at least," Sora said smiling as he moved toward the sliding glass doors. He walked in, followed by Roxas and told the unknown student worker behind the receptionist desk that he was there to see Leon. This time it took a couple of minutes, but then as usual, Leon opened his office door when he was ready. Roxas handed Sora his bag, giving a small wave to Leon as he did.

"I'll get a ride to your place to pick you up a little after 5," Roxas said. "Until then just try to chill alright?"

Sora nodded and waved as Roxas left the office. He turned to Leon who was patiently waiting at his doorway and Sora made his way over. He handed over Ms. Gainsborough's note without further ado and sat down gingerly into a chair as Leon closed the door and skimmed the note.

"So why did you come to school today?" Leon asked and Sora proceeded to drop his head against his counselor's desk, an action he immediately regretted as it crushed his injured side and well...it hurt to smack you head against a desk.

"I get it already, okay?" he whined sitting up and rubbing his head. "That's actually the number one most popular question I've been asked today. Stupid me. Next time I'll ignore the doctor's instructions to come back for a check-up in the morning and stay at home dying of lung rot or something."

Leon just eyed him strangely for a moment before taking his seat behind his desk.

"I was just asking a question, Sora," he said smiling slightly, "No need to chew my head off."

"Sorry," Sora told him, slumping his shoulders. "I guess I'm a bit more irritable that I realized."

"Understandable. From what I've heard, you nearly drowned during practice yesterday," Leon said, leaning back in his chair as he studied his student, "You gonna tell me what happened exactly?"

"Exactly? I can't really help you with that." Sora ran a hand through his hair. "You'll have to talk to the rest of the team to get all the details. All I remember is making my shot then a whole lot of pain and then…" _Riku's eyes,_ he thought as that first vision from his moment of waking came back to him. He could still remember how haunted the older boy had looked, treading there in the water. He never would have expected such strong fear on his behalf from someone who seemed to hate him so much.

"And then..?" Leon prompted and Sora realized that he had stopped speaking mid-thought.

"Oh, uh…and then I was in the room with that Vincent guy. Kinda freaked me out to be perfectly honest, but I'm alive so I guess I can't complain too much. He's the one who told me basically what happened and then I got more details from friends over the phone." Leon nodded, continuing to watch Sora.

"Have you heard what is happening to Travis because of what he did?" he asked.

"I heard that he's suspended and that he's off the team," Sora said shrugging, "is there more to it than that?"

"There is actually," Leon said, and he leaned forward to rest his crossed arms on his desk. "He's been suspended for the rest of this week and all of next with required anger management counseling and a conference with his parents. His father is challenging the decision to remove him from the team, so pending a full investigation into the matter, Bickson will still technically be a member of the team, though he is on suspension until the investigation is over and a final decision is made."

"So what does that mean exactly?" Sora asked, sleep deprived brain not quite keeping up with all the jargon.

"It basically means that there is a very slim chance he'll be back. These investigations can take weeks, Sora, and as long as he's still technically a member of the team, he still has access to the same equipment and training space as the rest of you." Sora's brow furrowed in confusion.

"Why should I care? That's how it's always been right?" Leon leveled a look at him that made Sora feel particularly slow for some reason.

"Sora, he almost killed you last night. Attempted man-slaughter changes things."

Sora blinked at him for a moment as his words sank in, then quickly averted his eyes as their meaning really took hold. He realized that he had almost died the night before, but somehow in his head he had chalked it all up to an accident, a misunderstanding, nothing really serious. It never occurred to him that the act could have been intentional; that Bickson might really have been trying to…

"You don't think he…" Sora began, but found he couldn't finish the though, "I mean he wouldn't really try to…would he?" Leon just looked at him with his usual passive, unreadable eyes.

"He has some issues Sora, ones that the school is doing its best to help with, but that doesn't mean that he's not dangerous. Until we get more information, I don't want him anywhere near you just in case."

"Funny, you're the second person today who's told me that."

"It's good advice," Leon said quirking one of his rare smirks. "There is one more thing that I want to talk to you about." Sora raised and inquisitive eyebrow.

"With everything that's happened, you do have grounds to press charges if that's something you'd be interested in doing." Sora didn't even need to think about his answer.

"No way. I hate cops and I really hate lawyers, and seriously Leon. I'm sure that he just got caught up in the moment and didn't really think about what he was doing. This is nothing to press charges over."

"Well, as an independent, it's you're call to make and that's all I'll say on the matter. Is there anything else you want to talk about?" Sora shrugged a shoulder.

"Not really. I mean, things are pretty cool. I've got friends and works fine and…other than this little mess, I don't really have much to complain about."

"I'm glad to hear it, Sora. I'm glad that you've started letting people in to help you."

"Yeah…me too," Sora blushed. "Strangely enough, things are a lot less stressful when I've got a little support." Leon rolled his eyes at that then stood from his desk pulling keys from a drawer.

"Alright then. Let's go." Sora stood a little confused.

"Where are we going?" he asked following Leon out the door.

"Based on the recommendation of your Homeroom Teacher, you're going home for the rest of the day and not coming to school tomorrow. You're not required to go to Blitz practice for the next week, so just try to let yourself heal so that you can get back in the game." Sora frowned where Leon couldn't see him. The whole ordeal the previous night had been because he was trying to prove to Coach that he was capable enough to play in the game on Friday. All of that work had been for nothing now. It looked like he wouldn't be seeing any game play for at least the next two games. Sora wouldn't be shocked if Coach used his injury to keep him out of the game for the entire season.

Sora managed to hide his frustration as Leon led him to his silver SUV and bade him get in. The ride home was…weird, mainly because he'd never had a teacher drive him home before, but he was grateful. Even with the painkillers, walking long distances with his backpack was a not a good time.

Even as he made small talk and offered direction, his thoughts never strayed from his already floundering Blitzball career. He thanked and waved Leon off then made his way to his room, flopping onto his unmade bed with a groan of pain and distress. Things were falling apart and it was completely out of his control. When exactly had everything gotten so massively screwed up?

-:- -:- -:-

Sora was woken by loud pounding on his door. Between his injury, the pain killers, and the limited amount of sleep he had gotten the night before, he had fallen asleep without really meaning to. Blinking crud out of his eyes, he rolled up with some difficulty and shuffled his was to the door. He felt like crap. The vaguely watery feeling in his lungs hadn't improved and despite the fact that he had obviously slept for several hours, he still felt like he hadn't slept in weeks. His head was spinning, his side was hurting, and he really just wanted to lie back down.

It was definitely time for another painkiller and cold pad.

There was another pounding at the door and he reached over to unlock it grumbling under his breath with a small cough. What he found when he opened the door was completely unexpected. Both a grinning Axel and a slightly grumpy looking Roxas stood before him. Sora blinked dumbly.

"Hey there, shrimp," Axel said inviting himself into the smaller boy's apartment. "Roxie here tells me you need a ride?"

"Believe me, I only called him as a last resort," Roxas grumbled walking into the place without closing the door. "Had I know that he was just going to turn around and ask Riku, I wouldn't have bothered." It wasn't until Roxas said this that Sora noticed that he had a third visitor. Riku had apparently been leaning against the outside wall because he suddenly appeared in the doorway and strode in, closing the door behind him.

Sora was pretty much dumbfounded. He's never had so many people in his new home at once before, and he had no clue what to do with them. His pounding head and aching body weren't doing much to help the situation, but thankfully, Roxas spoke up before he had to decide anything.

"Are you good to go, or do you still need more time?" Sora shifted his feet a little awkwardly before answering his friend.

"Actually, I just woke up when you guys got here. I was a little exhausted." This was followed by another couple of coughs and winces as his ribs complained.

"Hey, you doin' ok, kid?" Axel asked raising an eyebrow. "You're not looking so good."

"Yeah, I'm not feeling so good either," Sora replied without really thinking about it. He was feeling worse and worse by the minute.

"Do you need to go to the hospital?" Roxas asked anxiously. "Vincent said that you should see a doctor if you start feeling bad, right?"

"Yeah," Sora mumbled, stumbling over to his pile of clothes to pick some things out for his stay with Roxas and his family. "I'll just go see him tomorrow morning. I should be fine until—" he was cut off by a vicious coughing attach that sent him to the ground clutching his side in agony and struggling for breath. That had _not_ been pleasant. He fought his way out of the haze of pain, Roxas' voice calling to him sounding almost panicked. He wanted to answer his friend but all he managed was a pathetic whine followed by another weak cough.

His eyes were tightly shut as he tried to adjust to the throbbing in his side and ache in his chest, but it was slow to fade. He suddenly heard a soft sigh and then there were hands moving under him, shifting his weight.

"Help me get him up." The voice was Riku's and it was close enough for Sora to feel the rumble of his chest as he spoke. Other hands were on him, helping to lift his weight into Riku's arms.

"Grab his things, we're taking him to the hospital before we go to your place," Riku said and Sora could only assume that Axel or Roxas was grabbing his bag as he was carried from his apartment like a sack of potatoes. It was in him to protest all of this, but it had been so long since someone had taken care of him. He was tired and achy and just not feeling good, and he once again found himself wishing for his mother. Riku's arms were as good as he was likely to get for a long time, so Sora just went along with whatever was happening. He was too sick to care.

He found himself in the back seat of Riku's jeep slightly stretched out with his head in Roxas' lap. He had started off sitting upright, but after another fit of coughing, found that lying down somewhat eased the pressure on his chest and made him feel a little better. The back seat was small, so he had no choice but to rest against his friend, but Roxas told him it was fine, and Sora found himself once again falling into the comfort of human contact. He listened as Roxas made a call to his uncle from Axel's cell phone letting him know that they were taking Sora to the Emergency Room to be checked out.

"No, don't worry about it, we should be fine to get him home," Roxas was saying and Sora could only assume that Ansem was offering to meet them there. "Riku and Axel are here, and since Sora's independent, there shouldn't be any problem with paperwork and stuff."

Roxas made a few more grunts of understanding before saying goodbye and hanging up the phone.

"He'll want a full report when we get home, but he's gonna let us handle this," Roxas told Sora, tapping Axel on the shoulder to hand back his phone. Sora just nodded tiredly not wanting to speak over the rushing wind around them.

They made it to the hospital with little fuss, Riku, Axel and Roxas talking above him while Sora contented himself to zone in and out of their conversation. When they made it to their destination, he came back to himself enough to get out of the car and walk into the emergency room under his own power. His lungs continued feeling off and he groaned in pain with every small coughing fit he had, but he made it into the building well enough.

"You guys realize that they're going to send me away as soon as they figure out that I don't have insurance right?" he groaned, pouting slightly as the top of his oversized shirt fell off of a boney shoulder. Riku shot him a look before rolling his eyes.

"Don't worry about it," he said walking with Sora over to the receptionist of the emergency room. "My dad made sure all of us had third-party insurance. Believe it or not, with my brothers, this kind of thing is more common than you would think. Just let me give him a call." Sora's brow furrowed at this as Riku turned away pulling a sleek cell phone from a pocket. Third-party health insurance? He didn't even know that existed. Must be nice to be so rich.

He didn't really have the presence of mind to think very much into what Riku had said, otherwise he might have freaked out at the thought of how much money Riku's dad was going to be paying for him, or wondering why Riku was even bothering to be so kind in the first place. Instead, he just followed Riku to the front desk after he had finished his call where a kindly older woman with skin the color of caramelized sugar greeted them.

"Where are your parents, sweetie?" the woman asked kindly talking to Sora who was obviously the patient. "We can't fill out your paperwork with out them."

"Oh," Sora said fumbling in his pocket for his wallet. "I'm independent. No parents needed." He gave her the ID card he had gotten after his emancipation paperwork had been completed. It declared him an independent minor therefore capable of signing for himself. She gave him a sad smile as she handed the card back.

"Alright then, hon," she told him, "just show me your insurance information and you can have a seat while I process that." Riku stepping in at this point sliding a plastic insurance card onto the counter along with his own ID.

"This should cover it," he said with a charming smile. "My father said that you can give him a call if there are any problems."

"Oh, I'm sure that won't be necessary," she said smiling sweetly at him. "You're one of those little cherub boys, right? Your brothers have been in here a few times already with one of these cards, though it looks like this situation is quite different from what they've come in for."

"Well, my brothers do have a knack for getting into trouble," Riku said laughing lightly. Sora was amazed. Who the heck was this boy!? The Riku he knew was barely civil to people he didn't know, quiet at best, yet here he was being a perfect gentleman, making small talk with the receptionist like they were old friends. Yet another facet to add to the ever-confusing puzzle that was Riku Anakhuli.

"Go ahead and fill out these forms while I get your processed," she said handing Sora a clipboard, and he and Riku went to sit in the waiting area next to Axel and Roxas to fill out the paperwork. There was a lot of it. Sora had never needed to come to the emergency room before so he had to fill out several questionnaires about his medical history and the like. Somewhere in there, the woman had called Riku over to get his ID and insurance card back and Sora was still only halfway done with the forms. By the end of the process, Riku had taken over writing, asking the questions and filling in the appropriate information while Sora was all but curling into his warmth. He was suddenly very cold.

"I think you're feverish," Riku informed him setting the clipboard aside and putting a hand to his cheeks and forehead.

"I think you're right," Sora replied flatly. Fevers were bad. He never got fevers. They were a sure sign of serious illness. Luckily, it was a fairly slow evening in the emergency room, and after finishing the paperwork, it was only about a ten minute wait before Sora was called back.

The general practitioner, one Dr. Jane Porter, was a smiling woman in her early middle years. Old enough to be a doctor, but young enough to still be new to it. She bustled in with bright smiles not five minutes after a nurse had finished Sora's routine physical checks. Riku, as the person who would be paying for his care, had come back with him and they shared a look as the perky woman stepped into the room.

On any other day, Sora would have been happy to exchange pleasantries with the woman, but at the moment, he just wanted to find out what was wrong with him so that he could go back to sleep. She made her introduction but, quickly seeing that neither boy looked up to small talk, she quickly turned her attention to the chart in her hand, humming and nodding as she looked through the notes that were written there.

"Well then," she said, looking up from the chart with a smile, "let's see what we can do to get you straightened out, shall we?"

-:- -:- -:-

Roxas sat in the mostly empty waiting room with Axel for maybe ten minutes after Riku and Sora had disappeared into the hidden back rooms of the ER before he was ready to maim the redhead.

"Can you at least pretend to try to not be annoying for, like, 5 seconds?" Roxas growled leaping to his feet and heading towards the door. He needed some air. He hated the smell of hospitals and had no love at all for this one in particular.

"But Roxie, I'm bored!" Axel wailed following behind him. "After getting a ride for your friend the least you can do is entertain me!"

"Look, no one asked you to tag along!" Roxas hissed turning on him. "Why did you even come? Riku and I could have gotten Sora on our own, you're the one who invited yourself!"

"Woah, jeez Rocky, easy there," Axel said holding up his hands in a sign of surrender. "I was just messing with you. You doin' alright?" Roxas sighed plopping down onto one of the benches around the parking lot, not far from the entrance.

"I just…hate this place," Roxas admitted. "Brings back stuff I'd rather not think about." Axel sat down next to him dropping his teasing all together at Roxas' somber tone.

"Like what?" He asked curious. He spent a lot of time with Roxas and his siblings, but the more serious sides of conversation seemed to be avoided like the plague. He knew that something had happened to their parents and that's why they lived with their uncle, but he'd never gotten any details on the matter. Maybe this hospital was part of the mystery.

"It's old, Axel," Roxas sighed. "I'm sorry, I'm just being an ass. I won't bore you with my sob story."

"Well, it seems to me like we've got the time, and I'll be the judge of what bores me or not. Try me."

Roxas eyed him warily. He wasn't really sure if he wanted to dig up the past right then. It wasn't something he talked about much and the last thing he wanted was his friend's pity. Before he was able to give it much more thought though, he found that he was talking. Maybe it was the quiet of the evening or the distant roar of the ocean, but something about sitting there with Axel made it ok, like they were in a bubble universe that would vanish as soon as the conversation was over. He and Axel had been friends a long time, and that made it easier to open up perhaps.

"You know that our parents died in that huge storm a few years back, right?" Axel nodded and Roxas continued. "Well, this is where we were all brought once we were found. Our house had completely collapsed on top of us…we'd been trapped for hours…" Roxas trailed of for a time lost in thought. He hadn't really thought about these things in a really long time, and the memories were still disturbingly vivid for how much time had passed.

"Everything was such a mess here. There were people screaming, kids crying, sirens… so much blood. The place was so full. I'm shocked anyone got treated at all. They took our parents away at some point and Ne and Luke and I were left with a bunch of other kids. They vanished through those doors and that was the last time we ever saw them alive. It was 2 days at least before they got things sorted enough to start clearing the hospital of all the misplaced kids and stuff.

"We didn't know what to do. Our parents were gone and we had no way to find them, didn't know what happened to them. We were just kids, Ax; couldn't figure out what the hell was going on. Luxord had been trying so hard to find out what had happened to our parents but he kept getting shoved away. Who's gonna listen to a ten-year-old kid in the middle of a crisis, right? All we could do was try our best to stick together, and that was hard enough.

"We were a week in some random children's home before Uncle Ansem found us and told us that our parents had died. That's when he took us in to live with him. I've avoided this place as much as possible since then. Ne and I were only seven, but there's no way you can forget something like that, y'know? None of us had been hurt too bad because mom and dad had made sure that we were safe. They couldn't fit under the mattress with us. That's why they got hurt…but it was the chaos here that killed them. I can't help but think that if they had been treated sooner…if there hadn't been so many other people…" He trailed off getting lost in his own thoughts and falling into silence.

"You miss them," Axel commented softly, trying not to break the moment.

"Duh," Roxas scoffed softly. "I barely remember them now, but the things I do remember… Uncle Ansem is great. He's taken really good care of us since he took us in, but everything changed y'know? None of us are the kids we used to be, and sometimes I just… really miss being part of a normal family."

Axel didn't say anything to that. They sat in silence for a while contemplating thoughts known only to themselves. The evening got cooler. People occasionally walked by carrying a coughing child or walking with a slumped grown-up. Time passed but neither seemed to notice. Roxas was content to sit and think about nothing at all and Axel seemed content to sit silently with him.

After an unknown length of time, Roxas was aware of the doors opening behind him yet again, only this time, the sound was accompanied by familiar voices.

"I can't believe you watched," Sora was grumbling.

"I can't believe you squealed," Riku replied, laughter plain in his voice.

"Right, cuz I'm so sure you could have faced that with your usual stoic bastard face in place." Sora was pouting something fierce and Roxas' curiosity was piqued.

"What's spiky-head whining about now?" Axel asked before Roxas had to. They had stood and joined the other two boys as they walked towards Riku's car.

"Nothing," Sora said as Riku's grin broadened.

"Wittle Sowa had to get a shot of antibiotics," Riku said in a cooing voice, and Roxas smiled as he noted the scathing glare Sora shot at the older boy. "It was very entertaining."

"What's so amusing about a shot?" Roxas asked joining the conversation. Sora glare promptly focused on him.

"He had to take it in the ass," Riku finished smugly. "He squealed like a stuck pig."

"And _you_ were _supposed_ to be in the waiting room your pervert!" Sora growled as best he could. Roxas could see that the anger was already burning off and leaving fatigue in its wake and he remembered then that Sora was really sick.

"What did they say was wrong," he asked stepping over to his friend to offer a steadying arm.

"Early stages of pneumonia," Riku provided with a small shrug. "It's not bad yet, but he'll be down for the count for a few days at least."

"Why me," Sora moaned piteously as he settled into the back seat of Riku's jeep again. "All I wanted was to become a fabulous Blitzball star. How did it come to this?"

"Riiight, so sounds like the kids getting delirious already," Axel joked. Sora glared. Riku chuckled.

"Just get in the car already," Roxas told them both and they complied, Riku smoothly driving them back onto the main streets towards Roxas' house.

Once they arrived, Riku told them to take Sora inside and that he'd be back in a while. Not knowing what the other boy was doing and not really caring, Roxas grabbed Sora's bag as Sora climbed clumsily from the car. Axel went with Riku and Naminé met them at the door.

"Oh Sora!" She exclaimed placing a hand to his hot forehead and guiding him into their house, "You look horrible!"

"Thanks Naminé," Sora muttered with a wry smile. "You really know how to make a guy feel better." She blushed lightly but continued to lead him up stairs to the guest room where he usually slept when he came over. Roxas followed behind, dropping Sora's bag by the door as Sora lay carefully down on the bed.

"So what's the diagnosis?" Their uncle strode into the room holding a bed tray with a cup of what smelled like lemon tea and bowl of chicken noodle soup on it.

"Hey Mr. Weis," Sora greeted struggling to sit back up as a few soft coughs escaped his chest.

"I don't believe you getting out of bed is required for you to talk," the older man admonished. "Lay back down. Then you can tell me what the doctor said."

Naminé hurried to put some pillows at Sora's back so he could sit up and eat without straining himself and Roxas noticed the blush that warmed his friend's cheeks. He really wasn't used to people fussing over him apparently.

"Doc said I have pneumonia, probably because of my accident the other day. I'm supposed to take it easy for the next week or so, but it shouldn't last any longer than that. As long as I take my meds I should be good as new in no time."

"Do you need me to take you to the pharmacy?" Ansem asked, and Sora shook his head in response.

"I think that's where Riku and Axel went actually. You've opened your home to me, taken me in while I'm sick. You've already done more than enough, Mr. Weis."

Roxas shook his head hearing this. Would Sora never get it through his skull that he wasn't being and imposition; that they were helping him because they wanted to?

"We'll have none of that now," Ansem said in a stern voice. "I want you to consider yourself part of this family. You can stay here as long as you need to, Sora. For now, just rest. Eat if you can and try to let your body heal itself. I'm sure Roxas and Naminé will get you anything that you need, and I'll be in my study if you two need me." The last was directed at Roxas and Naminé and Roxas just smirked as he pushed himself from the wall.

"I think we can handle Sora, Uncle Ansem," he said, "but don't you have a business to run or something?"

Ansem just rolled his eyes at him before turning to leave the room.

"We got our next assignment in Art, Sora," Naminé piped in softly. "I got an extra assignment sheet for you,"

"And I got the stuff for you for the rest of your classes," Roxas added.

Sora groaned and threw his head back against his pillow causing Roxas and Naminé both to look at him in concern.

"Seriously guys, are you trying to make me sicker?!" he wailed. "Don't talk to me about school right now!" The twins just laughed at their friend as he slumped down in bed.

So began Sora's mini convalescence and recovery with the Capiz family. It felt nice. He was sick, and that sucked. There were times when he thought he was going to keel over and die from the combined pain of bruised ribs and bacteria-thick mucus being ripped from his lungs by hacking coughs, but still… Mr. Weis worked from home to stay with him during the day, and evenings were full of the sound of a family living together. It was something that he hadn't experienced for a really long time.

His time in bed allowed him a lot of space to think… think about his life, his friends, his mother, Bickson. But in the end he would always come back to one subject; an enigma that was growing ever stranger as his sick days went by. For some reason, Axel seemed to visit Roxas a lot during the week that Sora stayed with them, and for some reason, whenever Axel was there, Riku was right beside him.

-:- -:- -:-

"I'm home," Riku called as he hung his keys on their appropriate hook and made his way to the stairs that led up to his room.

"What's this?" A deep baritone spoke from the doorway between the kitchen and living room. "Why Yazoo, I do believe our lost brother has returned to us!" Loz said stepping forward to grab Riku in a crushing embrace.

"Get off of me," Riku's muffled voice spoke from his brother's broad chest. Loz was the oldest of the four of them yet somehow he had ended up the least serious. He held interests in many things but never settled on any one, meaning that unlike the very focused and single minded Kadaj, Loz still lived at home along with Yazoo as both continued pursuing their educations. Loz's current big kick was acting.

"Oh, but Riku!" Loz cried dramatically pulling away from his brother and holding him at arms length by the shoulders. "We thought that surely after missing dinner for the past five nights we'd lost you for good!"

"To the clutches of the enemy no less," Yazoo added smugly, stepping in from the kitchen wiping his hands on a dish towel.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Riku growled in irritation. Secretly, he believed that his brothers both still lived at home to look out for him and make sure he still had a family until he was ready to strike out on his own, but as warm as the sentiment left him, at times like these he really wished that he was an only child.

"But Riku," Loz said with a devious smirk, "wasn't it you who a week…"

"…and a half," Yazoo added

"…ago was complaining about how much you hated this kid you've been visiting everyday?"

"I never said I hated him," Riku grumbled avoiding eye contact with either of his brothers.

"I do believe your exact words were something akin to 'can't stand' and 'loser,'" Sephiroth's smooth voice broke into the conversation.

"Aw man, Dad, not you too!" Riku said in a distinctly _not_ whiney tone.

"Well, it seems this teammate of yours has begun taking a rather important place in your life," Sephiroth continued a hint of the same devious smile worn on his other two sons' faces touching his lips. "I believe that proper introductions are in order. Shall I send a formal invitation to the boy's family?"

"I hate you all!" Riku groaned retreating from the room, hiding his smile as the sounds of his brothers' and father's laughter followed him up the stairs. It had been entirely too long since that sound had filled the house.

-:- -:- -;-

By Wednesday evening, Sora was feeling again like a reasonably functioning human being after having been confined to his bed for five full days being allowed to do nothing more strenuous than swallow the meds that were brought to him. He was still sore from his aching ribs and his aching lungs, but he felt that he could function. He wanted to function. He was so tired of being in bed that he was literally begging Mr. Weis to let him go to school the next day.

"Dad," Luxord said from the doorway where he was leaning and watching the scene. "He's a fifteen-year-old boy, begging you to let him go to school. I think the situation has gotten pretty desperate if he wants out of bed that bad."

"Fine, Sora. Fine," Ansem finally caved. "If you really feel up to it, I'll let you go."

"Yes!" Sora crowed slapping hands with Roxas and beaming at Naminé, both of whom were in the room with him.

"I wish I had a camera," Luxord drawled. "I somehow doubt I ever see a group of teens celebrating a return to school like this again."

"Can it Luke," Sora said from his bed. "You're ruining my moment."

Luxord rolled his eyes, stepping back into the hallway as he eyed the group. "So are we going to celebrate this occasion by allowing Sora to come eat at the table with us for once?" he asked.

Sora was a bit embarrassed to say that the idea of it made him want to keel over with happiness.

The next day at school was an interesting one. Since he had basically gone missing for an entire week, everyone wanted to know what was going down. The story about Bickson had had enough time to not only spread through the school, but also develop a few mutations, the strangest of which involving Bickson, a chainsaw, a garden hose and a sleeping bag.

At least he understood, then, why some people were relieved to see that he was still alive.

Thanks to Roxas and Naminé, he didn't have too much work to collect, but even though he had the assignments, that didn't mean that any of them were finished. He just knew in advance how far behind he was. Catching up was going to be a pain in the butt, but he'd rather do that now than accumulate even more late work.

The most disappointing thing he missed, somewhat surprisingly, was his Paopuan History classes. They were getting ready for the School Demonstration which would be coming up in a few short weeks which meant that they were doing dance classes and more of the practical cultural stuff. There was a camping trip and everything planned the weekend before the Demonstration so that students could learn how to make authentic Paopuan garb and equipment for their performances. Talking to Pence, Sora was worried that he might have a bit of trouble catching up with everyone on the how-tos of making certain things, but at least their dance wouldn't be too difficult for him to pick up.

Back when dance assignments had been made, Sora had convinced Pence to sign-up with him to become one of the in-training fire dancers. For now, they would just be doing simple chants and movements in the background as sort of support for the actual dancers, but the following year, some of them would get to start training in the actual fire dance if they proved to be good enough. Sora really wanted to know who this year's fire dancers would be. He'd seen the dance in the past and thought that it would be really amazing to play with fire like that. He'd just have to wait for the camping trip. That's when all the final assignments would be made and they would get to meet the full cast all together for the first time.

By the time lunch swung around, Sora found himself looking around for a flash of silver hair or red spikes. He'd grown so accustomed to seeing Riku and Axel everyday when he was sick that he felt a little deprived after their absence the day before due to a study group Axel had to go to. The problem was, he wasn't really clear on where he stood in their eyes. The fact that Axel was always over to visit Roxas and Riku was always with him didn't exactly put Sora on either of their friends lists, but he did figure that the whole thing with Riku saving his life should have given his some special standing somewhere.

"You, ok?" Roxas said turning from his locker and waving a hand in front of Sora's face as he'd been completely spacing out for the past minute or so.

"What? Oh…yeah," Sora said coming back to himself. "Just thinking about...uh…stuff." He said with a bright smile.

Roxas gave him a knowing look but didn't comment. "I need to go talk to Axel about something, you wanna come with, or head back over to the tree?"

Sora blinked at him for only a moment before saying as nonchalantly as he could manage, "I guess I'll go with you."

They made their way over to the blacktop next to the gym and the group of teenagers grouped at the bleachers near-by. Axel's hair was impossible to miss so Sora spotted him immediately, and as always, sitting right next to him was Riku. The two of them seemed to be in some kind of deep conversation, Axel looking very smug and Riku just looking nervous. Now that was a look Sora wasn't used to seeing on Riku's face.

It was no shock at all that as usual, Demyx was the first person to spot and greet them. "Sora, Roxas! It's about time you guys made it back over here to see us on nicer terms." He smiled teasing.

Sora just bowed his head blushing slightly at the memory of that one eventful lunch time that seemed so long ago.

"Who says we're here to play nice?" Roxas said with a mock glower.

"Hey," Axel cut in at this point, "I know for a fact that Riku has been on his best behavior for the past week at least. There isn't anything he could possibly have screwed up."

"Maybe it's not him I'm talking about," Roxas replied and proceeded to pull Axel to the side for a conversation leaving Sora to stand awkwardly with the rest of the group on his own.

He noted that Riku seemed to be caught a bit off guard by his presence and really didn't know how to interpret that. He also didn't really know what to say to break the silence that had fallen, not quite awkward in general, but pregnant with the expectation that either he or Riku would say something to fill the void. It felt like everyone on the bleachers were focusing their attention on them.

"So you're not dead." The boy, Zexion, who was sitting on the bleachers next to Larxene spoke, breaking the silence to Sora's great surprise and relief. He was glad that the expectation had been lifted for him to say anything, but he had never really actually spoken to the boy so, it was weird getting help from him.

"Uh…nope, I'm not," he replied with a quirk of a smile. "Those rumors you heard were greatly… greatly exaggerated."

"We were all worried about you short-stuff," Demyx said draping and affectionate arm over his shoulders.

"Some of us are more willing to admit it than others, but we've all known for a while that something needed to be done about Bickson. We were all hoping that things wouldn't come to anything like this."

"People keep saying stuff like that," Sora sighed in frustration. It did seem like everyone griped about Bickson, but no one ever really gave specifics. "Just what is the big deal with Bickson? Why is he allowed to get away with so much if he's such a dick?"

"What, do you live with your head in a hole or something?" Larxene asked, not quite cruel humor coloring her voice. "His dad's only one of the most influential people on the island. Had the top spot before Riki and his fam got here. He's some big shot insurance attorney from the mainland who moved here a long time ago. Met an island girl, fell in love, typical cliché around these parts."

"He's done well for himself here," Zexion picked up the story. "Makes large contributions to many charitable organizations, and if the cops or school turn their heads to some of his sons more volatile behaviors, who cares as long as no one really get's hurt?"

"But someone did get hurt this time," Riku growled, speaking up for the first time, and Sora couldn't help but fill a spark of pleasure at the fact that the anger clear in Riku's voice was on Sora's behalf. "The asshole tried the some of the same shit with me last year." Wait…what?

"And Tidus too back when we did summer blitz camps when we were younger," Wakka added, and Sora's head spun a little at this news. "He was always a competitive kid; always had a chip on his shoulder. It was annoying back then, but never really dangerous."

"Well by the time I met him, he was way more than annoying," Riku said darkly. "He was on my case every chance he got, and I caught more than one look from him that I _really_ didn't like. He backed down before I was forced to pound his face in, but it was close, and I know that the only reason he stopped messing with me is because of who my father is."

"Same with Tidus," Wakka added. "He still picks at him, but never crosses the line."

"So then it's just my luck for joining this team when I'm nothing and nobody of consequence, and then befriending two of his old rivals." Sora said glumly, finally having some pieces to put together. "How silly of me." It was oddly comforting to know that he wasn't alone in being harassed by the upperclassman, but it was frustrating that no one had bothered to tell him any of this before now. True, even if he had known, there probably wasn't much he could have done about it anyway, but at least he would have known what to look out for. Seemed that it was just his luck that Bickson chose him as his latest target.

"Alright, alright already," Demyx broke into the gloomy mood. "The important thing is that Sora's alright and Bickson's out of the picture for a while, right? We were actually just talking about this before you got here, Sora." Sora noted the slightly panicked look return to Riku's face. "We want to throw you a 'we're glad you're not dead' party!"

"Awuh?!?" Sora asked eyes almost crossing in confusion.

"More accurately, we'd like to invite you to dinner with us," Zexion added in milder terms. "Nothing too big like your birthday was. Just some of us, some of your friends and a restaurant big enough to fit us at one table."

"Really?" Sora asked, mildly awed by the possibility of being invited to spend time with these people. Were they actually making an effort to befriend him?

"We'll take that as a yes!" Demyx said happily. "Riku will be in touch to get you details," and then the bell rang marking the end of lunch. Demyx rushed off, Zexion and Larxene were both eying him amused, and Roxas had appeared by his side with an entirely too devious smirk on his lips. Riku was also avoiding eye contact, walking beside Axel as they all headed for Art and Roxas wandered off to his next class alone. Sora wasn't sure why, but for some reason, he felt like he'd just missed something very important.

-:- -:- -:-

By the end of the day, Sora's strength was flagging a bit, but he still felt universes better than he had only a week before. 5th period ended and he walked as far as the gym with the others, but he was still out of commission until at least the following Monday so he was forced to wave his friends off and continue on while they all went to practice.

"Believe me you're not missing out," Tidus assured him as they parted ways. "Coach has been on a war path since Bickson was suspended. He _was_ one of our best players."

"Yeah," Hayner pitched in, voice dripping with sarcasm. "Never mind his homicidal tendencies, as long as he can score on the other guy."

"I'll see you guys tomorrow," Sora told them laughing.

"You sure you don't wanna call Uncle Ansem to come pick you up?" Roxas asked stopping by the locker room door after everyone else was in.

"I'm good," Sora assured. "I was thinking of visiting my mom today since I missed going on Tuesday."

"He'd take you there too, y'know," Roxas said seriously.

"Yeah," Sora said warmed by the show of concern. "I know he would." He gave a final wave and walked away from the gym heading for his usual bus stop. It seemed like forever since he'd last sat there. So much had happened in just one week. He'd swear it had been months since Riku dropped him off at his apartment that one screwed up evening after practice.

The bus came and he boarded thinking about life, and his still aching side and how failed his Blitzball career already was, but above everything else, he found his mind drifting back to Bickson. The guy was such an ass, but he'd never stopped to look beyond that. He'd honestly been really shocked when he heard about the others Bickson had harassed over the years. He wondered just how far the harassment had gone in those other cases. It seemed to be a really touchy subject for Riku, and thinking back on the strange way he had responded when Bickson was messing with Sora at Tidus' blitz party, Sora began to really wonder about the nature of Riku's history with Bickson.

It just seemed that more and more questions were building around Bickson, and Sora really wasn't sure how to go about finding answers other than asking Meg as he had planned to before. Still, it felt too much like prying into something that wasn't really his business. The funny thing about situations like this, however, is that sometimes, matters are taken completely out of your hands. Once a certain jar of cookies has been opened, the universe makes sure that it's not sealed back until every crumb is accounted for. Sora was about to have a first hand experience with this phenomenon.

He had gotten off at the stop that he always did when visiting Way to Dawn, walked the path he always walked across the front lawn heading towards the main entry way. There were many people out enjoying the afternoon sun; nurses, orderlies, family and friends. Sora found that his attention was caught by two familiar figures walking along, pushing an older woman through on of the gardens in a wheelchair. Sora did a double then triple take when he realized what he was seeing. The female was most definitely Meg—he would know that willowy figure and long curling hair anywhere. It was the young man smiling softly, walking beside her and pushing the chair that made Sora's brain short circuit. It wasn't possible. He didn't even think the older boy was capable of such a gentle expression, but there it was. Sora was seeing it with his own eyes.

As the trio vanished around a bend in the garden, Sora found that he needed to find a seat and quickly. There was no way he could let this go now. What the _hell_ was Bickson doing at Way to Dawn?

-:- -:- -:-

**A/N:**

ZOMG!!! I'm sooooo sorry…Writer's block has kicked my ass across the Milky Way. I don't even know that this chap was worth the wait…. I thought it was kinda weird though it did have a couple of yay moments. I've already got significant portions of the next chapter done, so I'm hoping it won't be too long before the next update. We may or may not get to the Demonstration next chapter, but at the very least, we'll definitely be doing some camping. I'm sure you're wondering why I keep harping on the Demonstration… let's just say that is plays a somewhat significant role in certain elements of this plot's development.

Things of note this chap: Loz! I don't even know why I heart him so much. Roxas! So there's the angst of his past. Bickson! Not just a plot device anymore…well…he still is…just better defined. And the RiSo slowly continues to develop…


	10. Ch 8: Moments and Conversations

**Standard Disclaimer:** Disney and Squeenix…not me…never me…

**Notes: **Go me! Updated in less than a month!:small victory dance:So…I've decided that I'm gonna stop saying what will happen next chapter because it never does, and I feel bad lying to you guys…even thought, I'm sure you don't really care.

**Warnings:** Gratuitous use of Disney and Square characters, language, at least one homosexual relationship, bigoted ass-holes, semi non-con encounters, made-up culture and language, lots of Blitzball, and general teen awkwardness. Enjoy!

-:-finem-:-

**Life on the Blitz**

**Chapter 8: **

**Moments and Conversations**

"So what? You actually are a stalker or something?" Meg swung around, hair flying dangerously in her fury.

Sora cringed a little but didn't back down. It had taken most of his time that morning to first track down Yuffie, get her to tell him where to find Meg and then proceed to check her several probable locations until he found the one that she actually occupied. Now that he had, he really wanted to get some answers. "I wasn't stalking," he explained to her in calm tones. I was there visiting someone when I saw you. I just want to know what you were doing there with Bickson; why he was there at all."

"And why do you think I'll tell you that?" Meg sneered down at him haughtily.

"Because you've been completely straight with me from the beginning, Meg," he pressed. "You didn't have to tell me about Bickson; didn't have to warn me away, but you did. All I'm asking is for a few more answers. With everything that's happened, don't you think I deserve at least that?"

Meg paused glaring down at him in some small disgust that somehow seemed to have a touch of admiration. "You play the guilt card well my friend, I'll give you that," she said sighing. "Fine. I'll meet you at the east garden at the beginning of lunch. I won't be waiting around for long either, so be there or be out of luck, got it cutie?"

Sora nodded his thanks as the first bell of the day rang, and began to turn away.

"You should really bottle that cuteness kid," Meg said with a smirk just as he was about to leave. "Makes people want to do whatever you want them to. You'd make millions." She laughed at the dubious look Sora gave her then turned away to head towards her own classes.

Sora's gaze followed her in confusion for a moment before he shrugged and headed off to first period. Tidus, Hayner and Roxas were all already there and seeing them reminded him of his discussion with the others at lunch the day before.

"So, how'd it go?" Roxas asked before Sora could open his mouth to say anything. He'd talked to both Roxas and Naminé the night before about his visit with his mom and his Bickson sighting. The visit with his mother hadn't been as encouraging as others, but they had talked long about the possibilities of Bickson's presence and all agreed that it would be best for Sora to just ask Meg as he had been planning to from the beginning.

"I've got a lunch meeting," Sora told him, being careful to keep things vague. "I'll let you know how it goes."

"Rrrriiight," Hayner said, eyeing both of them suspiciously. "So you guys gonna clue us in on the super secret spy meetings or what?"

"It's nothing important—"

"I'm just talking to Meg—"

Both Sora and Roxas had begun speaking at the same time freezing mid-sentence as they looked at each other awkwardly.

"Umm…I wanted to ask Meg about her connection with Bickson since she seems to know so much about him," Sora said into the awkwardness that had descended. Hayner was still shooting Roxas a scrutinizing look, but Tidus raised an eyebrow at Sora and Roxas both.

"I thought that would be obvious," he said. "They were together for like, half of last year." Three sets of eyes focused on Tidus as the bell rang and Ms. Gainsborough started class.

Sora was practically choking on his questions but remembered to breathe when he was struck with a small coughing fit that sent small jolts through his still healing ribs. That served as a proper reminder that he was still not completely well and just who he had to blame for that. Lunch would hopefully be very educational, and maybe the whole situation would make a bit more sense after he spoke to Meg.

-:- -:- -:-

"So did she say anything at all this morning when you talked to her?" Roxas asked as he traded books from his locker.

"Not really," Sora said, going over to investigate his own locker. He hadn't done so the day before, and was curious to see if there was anything interesting within. "She did seem pretty defensive when I asked what they were doing there, though. With what Tidus said this morning, I guess it makes more sense. Maybe she had a relative there and Bickson was just along for emotional supp--holy crap!!" Sora was forced to stop speaking as a veritably mountain of paper poured into his arms from his locker. Roxas was at his side laughing his little blond spikes off, apparently at Sora's distress.

"Guess I should have warned you," he said helping Sora collect the cards. "The Blitz Fanclub also coordinates a get well drive for injured players. They've probably been slipping you cards since you went absent."

"Sheesh," Sora wowed at the variety and creativity displayed in his "fan's" well wishes for him. "You think if they knew about my mom they'd spread the love?"

"What about your, mom?" Hayner asked appearing suddenly from behind them. Sora started so bad he sent cards flying everywhere.

"Dude!" Sora said turning to look at his friend with wide eyes, clutching his now complaining ribs. "Heart attack! Way to give me one!"

"Jeeze, Sora. Jumpy much," Hayner sent back, raising a bemused eyebrow. "So what's up with your mom? She sick or something?"

"Uh…yeah," Sora said, shooting a quick look at Roxas as he collected his cards and shoved them back into his locker. "Something like that. It's nothing to worry about though. You guys ready to go?" He caught the look that Hayner was giving him and Roxas both, but just smiled brightly, willing Hayner to drop it. He did, but it was clear that he didn't really want to, which left Sora feeling like the worst friend in the world. He'd said he would tell more people, yeah, but Roxas knew, and Axel knew and Kairi knew everything, and even Riku knew that he lived alone. The idea of such personal information spreading to so many others who had nothing to do with the situation just didn't sit well with Sora no matter how much Leon said it would be good for him. He'd think about telling Hayner later…but here was definitely not the time or place.

He plastered on his best smile as he led the way to the food lines.

-:- -:- -:-

"Right, kids. So you've all been paying your dues for the past few weeks and it's finally almost time for you to start reaping some of the benefits!" Sora sat in the auditorium next to Pence as, Kuzco, their lead dance instructor stood on the stage detailing plans for the camping trip that would be coming up the following weekend. Sora was actually really excited about the trip. He hadn't been camping since before his father died, and the fact that he would be going with his friends and getting hands on experience with Paopuan cultural practices made the whole experience seem all the better.

"That's right!" Kuzco continued, gesturing largely. "A week from today, you will all have the chance to break free of the bonds of this un-holy institution to answer ze call of nature. You will also, for the first time have the chance to see all of your dance companions together, in one place," he held up a finger, "at the same time," he brought his other hand up to line up his other pointer with the first. "_Capisce_?" he pointed both fingers in a dual sort of gun gesture, raising an eyebrow, waiting for the class' response.

"_Wahala_" the class intoned together, answering, as always in Paopuan as they had been told to during their Paopuan History lessons.

"I love you crazy kids," Kuzco told them, wiping a tear from his eye before continuing on to the list of supplies they would need for the trip.

"I hear we get divided depending on what section we chose to participate in," Pence whispered to Sora as the class chuckled at Kuzco's antics on stage. "That means that you, me, Roxas, Hayner, and Tidus will all be together since we're all doing the fire dance."

"Yeah," Sora replied keeping his voice low as well. "We might even end up in the same camp sites even once they break us up."

"This trip is gonna be awesome," Pence said. Sora smiled and nodded his agreement.

"Alright lovelies, that's about it and you'd better not forget," Kuzco told them once he had finished the business at hand. "So now that that's out of the way," he spun in place before striking a pose.

"Let's groove!"

-:- -:- -:-

Sora waved goodbye to his friends from Paopuan History and stumbled slightly out of the gym. Even the very small exertion required for the dance that he had practiced that day had left him sore and winded. It was more irritating than anything, but it did serve as a solid reminder of his meeting with Meg. The school's auditorium was on the east side of the school, directly adjacent to the east garden, so Sora was at the front of the garden waiting when Meg arrived.

"A little eager there aren't you, shorty?" she said throwing him an amused smile.

"Well," he said blushing lightly, "you said I should be prompt." He gave a weak smile and she rolled her eyes at him.

"C'mon kitten," she said heading down the garden's main path. "I'm hoping to actually get something to eat after this little chat."

The school had two botanical gardens situated on its eastern and western back corners. Each garden was tended by the upperclassmen as part of their Paopuan heritage training. It was cool in the shadows and sound was muted by the lush vegetation surrounding the trails. Suffice it to say, if you wanted to have a private conversation, wandering the paths of one of the gardens was a really great way to do it.

"So," Meg began conversationally, "what do you know about Way to Dawn?"

"Uh…not a whole lot," Sora lied, "I just, uh, go to visit…a friend there every now and again. It really was just a random twist of fate that we happened to be there at the same time."

"Mmhmm, right," Meg stopped and looked at Sora very serious now. "Listen up, kitten. Here are the rules. If you expect me to be straight with you, you gotta be straight with me. I'm not revealing anybodies deep dark secrets if you're not willing to return the favor."

Sora sighed, dropping his head and kicking himself for even trying to lie in a situation like this. "I know, I'm sorry," he told her. "It's just not exactly an easy subject, and I've barely told my friends so…y'know?"

"I forgive you," she said continuing down the path. "So, let's try again. What do you know about Way to Dawn?"

"My mom lives there," he said, keeping his tone light even as his pulse began to steadily increase. "Has for the past six years almost. She had a breakdown after my dad died and hasn't really come back from it yet." Swallowing thickly, he waited for Meg's response. Silence fell between them for a time before she began in an equally light tone.

"Trav's mom lives there too. She was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis a few years back and moved in about 3 years ago."

"And you go with him because you used to date?" Sora asked remembering his latest tidbit of information from Tidus.

"So the kitten had been digging for information elsewhere I see," Meg said smiling down at him. "Yeah, Trav and I were together for a while last year. He really isn't that bad of a guy if you can get him away from all the things that piss him off."

"Like what?" Sora asked.

"Why do you care?" Meg sent back at him.

This took Sora a bit by surprise causing him to pause in his walking. "Um…I don't know. I guess I just want to understand what it is about me that pisses him off so much…or something."

Meg paused beside him eyeing him thoughtfully for a moment. "So if your dad's gone and your mom's sick, who takes care of you?" she asked pushing him to get him walking again.

Sora hadn't been expecting this question and blinked several times before answering. "Um, I do. I take care of myself. I'm independent now."

She gave a low whistle at that, nodding and raising an impresses eyebrow. "You're what, barely 15, and living on your own? Not bad. If only Trav could have that luxury." Sora stayed quiet waiting for her to continue. "So I'm guessing you know about Trav's dad by now. There's no way he could have gotten off so easily for what happened if his father wasn't who he is. The man is…the devil, for lack of a less appropriate word. He has his fingers in everything and a heart made of granite. What is it that pisses Trav off? It's his father and anything that has to do with him.

"Back before his mom got sick, things were almost normal for him. His dad was always a hard ass, pushing him really hard yes, but his mother was always there to calm the man down and cuddle a smile out of Trav."

Sora gaped at this causing Meg to chuckle at him. "You heard me. Trav and cuddles in the same sentence. Hard to believe, right? Well like I said. He isn't always a bad guy. Just…lost, and hurt. But he's a typical male. Refuses to acknowledge his feelings and instead starts beating up on cute innocent little kids. Oh, you know what I mean," she said in response to the not-amused glare Sora sent her way.

"So wait," Sora said as they rounded a corner to circle the garden again. "If both Bickson and his dad are still at home, why is his mom in a care facility?"

"Like I said," Meg said dryly, "Heart of granite. The diagnosis was made about six years ago. Early stages weren't so bad, but she just kept getting worse. Eventually, Trav's dad just had her moved from their home to Way to Dawn. Didn't talk to either of them about it. Trav just came home one day and his mom was gone. Took us weeks to track down where he'd sent her.

"That was the turning point. Trav's personality went south after that. Without his mom there to run interference with his dad, there was just a constant onslaught of verbal abuse, pressure for him to do better, always be the best. I mean, I lived down the street for all my life so I was familiar with the Bickson family psychotics, but things just…got so wrong. Trav loves his mom, Sora. You've gotta understand that. Without her in his life, he's just been consumed by his hatred of his father; the man who pretty much took her away from him."

"I can relate," Sora murmured, "at least to the part about his mom." Truthfully, there had been a point when Sora was irrationally angry at his father for leaving them and also at his mother for picking her husband over her son, but it had faded with time. He too had just been really hurt and angry and confused.

"Why doesn't he just leave then?" he asked. "I've done the paperwork, it's not that hard to become emancipated."

"If only," she sighed massaging her temples. "Trav's dad is a lawyer remember. He won't allow it. Said he'd stop paying for his mom's treatment if Trav ever even tried to leave. I swear if it weren't for me and Jase, Trav would have gone off the deep end years ago, and I'm not sure that we'll be able to stop it for much longer, but there's nothing we can do. The man's not stupid enough to get physical, but there's just…. They were both destroyed on some level when Keila got sick. That's his mom. She is about the sweetest woman in the world, and had the both of them wrapped around her little finger. Now they both just stew in their anger and resentment towards each other and…" she heaveded a sigh. "I don't even know why I'm telling you all of this. This is Travs business, he'd strangle me if he knew I was telling you of all people any of this."

They lapsed into silence for a while just walking and thinking. There was a very tight fist squeezing Sora's heart as he thought about everything he'd just learned about Bickson's home life. He couldn't imagine having a father like that; living with that level of hatred on a daily basis. Things like that poisoned your soul. No wonder the guy was such a lose cannon.

"And then on top of it all the he's homophobic," Sora hadn't even realized he'd spoken aloud until he heard the bitter laugh issue from Meg.

"Homophobic? The man actually tried to pass a piece of legislation requiring that students who identified as queer be put in separate classes in school so they wouldn't 'taint' the 'normal' students." Meg's voice was dripping with anger now. "Do you realize how sick that is?!" she sighed shaking her head again as she kept talking. "Trav and I tried, but it only proved my suspicions, and I'm pretty sure he's beginning to accept it, too. I doubt there will be any other females in his romantic future."

Sora just nodded at this, the fist clenching even tighter around his heart. Not only denied love in the home, but also denied the opportunity to pursue love elsewhere. Sora was shocked that Bickson was as stable as he seemed to be, but while all of this did explain Bickson's asshole behavior, it left one very important question unanswered.

They were nearing the front of the garden again when he stopped, looking up at Meg solemnly. "Thank you for telling me all of this. You didn't have to, and I really appreciate it, but I do have one last question, then we can both go try to eat something."

"Like I have an appetite after this conversation," Meg drawled back at him saucily.

Sora smiled for her but went back to his question. "Still," he said, "I was just wondering if you knew why he's targeted me. I mean…what did I ever do to the guy?"

"Honestly, Sora, even I haven't figured that one out," she looked truly distressed as she said this. "If I did, I'd tell you so that you'd stop and he'd leave you alone. The best I can figure is it's like I said before. Maybe he's into you, maybe he's pissed because you're good at the game and in your first week of school, got more attention from two of the guys I think he has a thing for than he has after years of harassment. Maybe he somehow knows you're on your own and just decided to take all of his aggression out on you. I really don't know Sora, but I know for sure that you should stay away from him. I'm doing what I can, and Jase too—"

"Who's Jase?" Sora asked after this mystery friend had been mentioned for a second time as if he should know the guy.

"Jason Raudy, our lead goalkeep, kitten," she said giving him a questioning look, "You haven't been off the team _that_ long have you?"

"Hey, excuse me for not knowing everyone's full history and background, ok?" he pouted.

"Oh you are just too cute!" Meg said bending over to pinch both of his cheeks and shake his head a little in the process. Thankfully, she stopped before Sora was forced to bat her hands away. "And I want this cute, innocent, adorable little face of yours to stay in one piece, alright?" she told him seriously. "Stay away from Trav."

Sora nodded once, showing his understanding. Meg gave him a wink and a gentle slap to his cheek before turning to exit the garden leaving Sora alone with his thoughts. The conversation played over and over in his head as he headed back to join his friends for the last ten minutes of lunch. It just all seemed so unreal. He couldn't believe that families that screwed up really existed and he really couldn't believe that any one person could survive at all in such living conditions. He just couldn't imagine what he would do in the same situation. Couldn't imagine not having the love of his father, having his mother taken away from him without his knowledge. The very idea of it sent a cold chill shuddering through his entire body.

He was actually really looking forward to talking to Roxas about what he had learned, looking up to the group's tree hoping he'd be able to catch the other boy's attention and get him away from the others. What he saw instead, however, pretty much chased all thoughts of Bickson from his mind. In fact, everything went sort of blank as he tried to take in the scene in front of him.

There were several more people than usual around their tree, most of whom Sora didn't know. Sora did note that they were still keeping a fair distance, and his usual group were all sitting in their usual places with the exception of Selphie, who, instead of bouncing around driving everyone nuts, was sitting quite stationary. She was entertaining herself, humming happily as she plaited layered silver locks, and attached to those locks—impossible as it seemed in Sora's head—was Riku, looking vaguely awkward but still managing to carry a steady conversation with Kairi.

Cue the theme from the Twilight Zone…

"Sora!" Selphie suddenly squealed catching sight of Sora's shocked figure. "Look what we found! Can we keep him?!"

Riku's head had jerked in Sora's direction as soon as Selphie had shouted…directly into his hear, and he was now on his feet, dusting himself off and offering a somewhat bemused smile and quick apology to Kairi as he hurried to meet Sora where he stood.

"Uh, hey," he said as Sora continued staring at him in confusion. Silence stretched between them even as lunch time noises surrounded them. "You ok?" he asked when Sora didn't offer a response and this served to snap the brunet back to the here and now.

"You were eating lunch with my friends." It was a statement and not a question, stated uselessly. Likely an after effect of his shock. "Why were you eating lunch with my friends?"

"Oh, right! See, uh…" Riku seemed suddenly extremely uncomfortable as he began averting his eyes and shifting on his feet. He tried to run his hand through his hair but it got caught in one of the many braids that now decorated it. "Dammit!" he swore angrily, trying to free his hand. Oddly enough, the moment broke Sora out of his stupor and he couldn't help snorting a little at the sight of Riku fighting to free his hand from his own hair.

"You find this amusing?!" Riku snapped at him.

Sora just rolled his eyes and reached up to take Riku's wrist in his hand. "I find this hysterical actually," he said laughing a little now. "Hold still so I can see what it's caught on." He struggled for a good ten seconds before dragging Riku to a nearby bench and shoving him into a sitting position.

"Freakishly tall people," he grumbled under his breath.

"Hey, don't take your short-people complexes out on me, munchkin," Riku said smartly, earning himself a tug on his hair for the trouble.

"Ow, gentle!" he cried, other hand shooting up to his scalp. "Gentle! Do you have any clue how much this hair cost?" Sora smirked where the other boy couldn't see him, studying the hand and its multiple rings for a silent beat before responding.

"So that's what's with all the silver hair in your family," he said as if solving a great mystery. "You guys just bought the implants. Hey, maybe you could hook me up. I think I'd look pretty hot with silver spikes." To Sora's delight, Riku snorted a laugh at this.

"You're an idiot, Holani, did you know that?"

Sora smiled down at him smugly as he disentangled a few strands from a silver ring with a wing design on Riku's index finger and gave the older boy his hand back. "Well this idiot just saved your very expensive hair implants from your own hand. I wouldn't be so quick to toss the insults."

Riku sent a pouting glare his way and Sora could just imagine a 6-year-old Riku with the exact same expression, pouting over someone telling him just how adorable he was. He had to resist the urge to pinch one flawless cheek.

Riku turned his head again waving a hand vaguely. "Take out the rest while you're back there," he commanded airily, and settled more comfortably where he was.

Sora stared at his back flatly for a moment, but when he realized that Riku wasn't moving, shrugged, rolled his eyes settled onto the bench behind him and set to work. If Riku _really_ wanted him playing in his long silky salon perfect hair, Sora thought he _might_ be able to find the energy _somewhere_ to answer the request.

"So why are you over here again?" he asked, feeling far more comfortable after Riku's little mishap than he had at the beginning. It seemed that the same was true for Riku because he didn't stutter over his response this time.

"Demyx sent me to give you details for that thing," he said simply. "They wanna do it after the blitz game tonight if you don't have plans."

"Oh," Sora said distractedly, running his fingers through cool strands as he freed them from their braid. It was amazing how at the bottom, the hair was cool to the touch, almost like it was wet, but as he ran his fingers closer to the scalp, the heat from Riku's head kept the hair there soothingly warm. He smiled a little in wonder at the sensation. It had been years since he'd played with anyone's hair, the last person being his mother's before she'd gotten sick.

"Hellooo?" Riku called back, snapping Sora out of his daze.

"Right, that should be fine," he said, working more efficiently on the next braid. "Just let me ask the people I want to invite. Should only take a second."

The bell chose that moment to ring.

"Crap!" Sora cried as he watched his friends gather their things and prepare to disperse. Without warning, he leapt to his feet to catch them before they left, causing Riku who had been leaning into his touch to let out a startled yelp then fall off the bench backwards onto the grass. Sora looked back, confused, for a second, but hurried on to catch the others.

Funny…when had Riku started leaning into his touch?

-:- -:- -:-

Roxas snickered loudly as he watched Riku flail gracelessly to the ground after losing Sora's contact. Things were working out surprisingly well considering how apparently inept Riku was at real social interaction.

"And how did our little prince do for himself?" Axel asked stepping up behind Roxas where he stood in one of the breezeways.

"Well, considering that Sora is now over there scrambling to get people together, I think the information was delivered." Roxas saw Sora looking around frantically before spotting him and hurrying over.

"How about Spikey. Think he'll be able to handle himself alright?" Axel asked watching Sora with a smirk and a glint in his eyes.

"You just worry about Riku," Roxas hissed quietly as Sora came nearer. "I'll handle Sora."

-:- -:- -:-

Friday, after school—a time Sora looked upon with equal joy and trepidation. On the one hand, it meant the weekend had come again, that Sora had made it through two days of school without relapsing in his illness, and also that he was finally at his final dose of antibiotics and theoretically on the path to full recovery. On the other hand, it meant Friday night Blitz, which Sora would be sitting out, facing the fact that he was well enough now to actually have to focus on all of the missed assignments he'd have to make up, and also facing the fact the a he no longer really had a reason to be imposing himself on Roxas' family anymore. Come Saturday, life would have to go back to normal…well, what passed as normal for Sora anyway.

And then there was the dinner after the game. Just hanging out with some of his friends and some of Riku's friends…and Riku himself of course. Nothing to worry about, right? Right.

In the end, the Sora side of invitees turned out to be Roxas and Naminé, Kairi and Hayner, and then of course, Sora. He'd invited Tidus as well, but apparently the blond had plans with Yuna already. Sora wasn't really surprised. The request had come with rather short notice. He wasn't even really sure where they were going. He just figured he'd get more details after the games were done or at some point in between.

The thing that Sora found his mind staying on most as he watched the JV team warm up sitting in the stands with a few other early arrivals, was his return to the figurative grind. The past week had been…wonderful. He still felt like a complete loser for allowing himself to be so sickly in his friend's home, but never once had any of them complained. Mr. Weis had been nothing but kind in a paternal way that hurt so good, reminding Sora of a childhood that was long gone and could never return. He'd never had siblings before, but Roxas and Naminé both treated him like part of the fold. Luxord too, who visited frequently as he lived just on the other side of town, had taken to being the irritating but cool older brother that Sora had never had.

It was family…real family, and there was a part of Sora that ached desperately to prolong his illness just so that he could make it all last. But then there was the other part of him that berated him for even thinking such thoughts. He had a family. It wasn't perfect, and it would take a bit of work still on his part to get things back to good, but he did still have a family, and he wasn't going to give up on it so easily.

His visit with his mother the previous day had not been encouraging, but Sora was beginning to pick up on a pattern. Things had always been very tame when Rinoa had taken him to visit his mother. They would sit and Rinoa would speak in quiet even tones, smiling gently, and his mom would go right along existing in whatever other space her mind occupied, only occasionally coming out to acknowledge the outside world. The biggest response he'd gotten so far had come from his own tears the day she had included him in her painting. He'd gotten similar though smaller responses on days when he came to her very excited or very frustrated. It seemed that good days were associated with strong emotion, so if he could just keep reaching for her, at the heart level, he knew deep inside that he'd be able to bring her back.

He knew that in her heart, she didn't mean to leave him alone. There was just so much grief blocking her from herself, she wasn't aware of what she was doing. If he could just get through to her…make her truly see him, she'd come back, and they could have their family again. It would hurt, but together—supporting each other—maybe they'd both finally be able to heal.

"Deep thoughts I see."

Sora started, looking up to see who it was who had pulled him from his musings. "Oh, hey Kai," he said as she settled beside him on the bench. "Didn't hear you coming."

"I know," she said smiling softly and tucking hair behind her ear. "You had your deep contemplation face on. What've you got bumping around up there today?"

"What haven't I got bumping around?" Sora sighed. "Has life always been this complicated? Things seemed so much easier before this year began."

"Yeah, well, I can't imagine why that would be, Sora," she said settling back to lean against the seats behind her. "It's not like any major changes have happened in you life lately."

"Ha ha," Sora said flatly. "I guess I just hadn't expected things to get so…intense."

"Intense," Kairi echoed, brows raised as a small smirk pulled at her lips. "This sudden intensity wouldn't have anything to do with a certain silver-haired rich boy whose tresses you were playing with at lunch would it?"

"I wasn't playing with his tresses," Sora defended haughtily. "I was rescuing them from Riku's stupidity and then forced, against my will, to remove the mess that Selphie put there as well." Kairi giggled as he hoped she would and he settled back, leaning against the seat behind him too.

"Yeah," he said, dropping the humor though still smiling softly. "Riku is part of the intensity. I'm still trying to figure out exactly what is going on with him. I honestly only wanted to get to know him a little in the beginning…."

"But now?" Kairi prompted when he lapsed into silence.

"Now, I don't know," Sora sighed. "I seriously don't know what to think. Half the time we don't know what to do around each other, the other half it's almost like we can actually be friends…but we keep bouncing back and forth. And then he just gets so weird sometimes, like he doesn't want to be around me or something, but then he does stuff like today and actually comes seeking me out."

"I don't know, Sora," Kairi said bouncing her feet lightly. "Sounds to me like somebody has a cruuush," she sang the last word teasingly.

"I do not!" Sora protested immediately. He could feel his face heating alarmingly as Kairi fell into a fit of giggles at his side.

"I would say that you're protesting a little much for it not to be true, but I'm actually not talking about you."

"Oh," Sora said feeling a little stupid for jumping to conclusions, but then her words actually sank in. "Wait, _what?!?_ You think _Riku_ has a crush on _me?!_"

"Sora, you're so cute when you're being clueless," she said shaking her head fondly, "it's almost a shame that it won't last through the end of the year. Yes, silly. Haven't you ever crushed on someone?"

"Yeah…" he said blushing as he thought back to his passing fantasy of having Kairi as more than just a friend back in Middle School. It had been passing, and he had never actually acted on it, but he did remember the awkwardness he had felt around her for that short period of time. The idea had the ring of logic, but still…

"Kairi, this is _Riku_ we're talking about," he pressed. "He's a major ass most of the time, but he can charm the pants off of anyone if he wanted to. If he were into me, he'd just flash that smile of his and turn me into a puddle of goo on the locker room floor."

"I won't point out the obvious implications of what you just said," Kairi smirked at him, "but I do want to point out a few flaws in your logic. I mean, think about it Sora. Riku is drop dead _gorgeous_. Half the population of this _island_ is drooling over him, but in all the time he's been here, how many romantic relationships has he had? Heck, how many _flings_ has he had?"

Sora blinked at her blankly.

"None," she supplied. "I don't know why I thought you would have known that. Riku's become like some kind of idol to most people, Sora. It's like everyone's forgotten that he's really just another sixteen year old kid. I was guilty of it too until he sat with us today and that's when I figured something out."

"Yeah?" Sora asked curiously, eyes moving to the tank where the team was still practicing. He sought out the silver turned blue by the water hair, focusing on the smooth glide of Riku's athletic form through the pool. "What's that?"

"He's a little on the side of clueless too, Sor." She giggled again when Sora snapped his head over to stare at her wide eyed. "I don't think he has much experience with actually making friends on his own, or being himself in front of others, or doing most of the things we view as normal," she continued. "It's like...like all of those other faces we get to see of him are these elaborate masks he's constructed throughout his life to fit all of the roles he's supposed to play, but take all of the masks away, and he's not even sure what is left underneath. Maybe, he wants to be real with you Sora, and hasn't quite figured out how that's supposed to work."

Sora continued staring at her in mild awe. "You got all of that from one ten minute conversation with the guy?"

"You've forgotten how brilliant I am haven't you?"

"More like I've blocked the trauma of your insanity from my memory," Sora teased. She smacked him lightly on the arm and they proceeded to fall into lighter conversation, just hanging out and talking together like they used to before Sora's life got so complicated. He missed spending time with Kairi. It was great that he had new friends now, but Kairi held a special place in his heart. She had been there for him through everything—after his father had died, when his mother got sick, when he first moved in with Rinoa, all of it. Kairi was the single person on the planet who fully understood the extent of the madness that was his life. He told her things that he hadn't even shared with Rinoa. It was a very sobering thought to realize how small a part of his life she encompassed now.

"It's really lame how much things have changed between us, Kai," he said as they watched the JV team leave the tank and head back into the locker room. The other team had arrived, the Titans from Destiny Pacific High.

"Oh, things haven't changed that much between us, Sora," she said smiling lightly at him. "We can still talk to each other and we'll always be there for one another. I'm just not everything anymore. That's a good thing."

Sora smiled at her sadly. "Things were so much simpler when there was only you though."

"Yeah, but you weren't nearly as happy either," she told him. "I know things feel crazy, but that emptiness that always seemed to float just behind your eyes has faded. I might miss being the center of your universe just a little, but I'm glad to see that you're finally finding a place for yourself in the world. As long as you can find a few minutes for me every now and again, I'll be happy."

"Always, Kairi," he told her earnestly. "I can't imagine not having you as a part of my life."

She smiled brightly at him, but the conversation ended there as more people began coming, filling the stands. Naminé, Pence and Olette showed up carrying snacks, and soon afterwards, Axel, Zexion, Demyx and several other members of the Varsity team came to sit around them, some of the blitzers Sora hadn't seen recently offering him friendly words to his secret delight.

He noticed Bickson sitting high in the stands alone, all of his friends getting ready to play and felt a pang of sympathy for the older boy. True, it was Bickson's fault that he wasn't able to play right now, but at least Sora had other friends. From what he could tell after speaking to Meg, there probably weren't many people who gave a damn about the guy and even if he was an asshole, everyone needed a friend. It crossed his mind to invite the guy to sit with them, but then he remembered Meg's warning and Leon's second to it. Sora felt bad for the other player, but there was nothing he could do to fix the problem's in Bickson's life.

He turned away to focus on his friends and the game that was about to start.

-:- -:- -:-

Coach was pissed.

Roxas filed back into the locker room with the rest of the JV Blades, passing several members of the Varsity team as they headed out to start warming up. There were a few looks of sympathy exchanged between the teams, but pretty soon, the Varsity players were gone and JV were left in the central meeting area alone with their furious coach.

"And what, gentlemen and ladies, do you call what happened out there this afternoon?" Coach Clayton ground out through clenched teeth. The room remained silent aside from the squeak of rubber as some players shifted awkwardly in their suits.

"Well?!" Clayton barked expectantly. "Have you nothing to say?!"

"Coach, we played a good game," Wakka said speaking up boldly. "The Titans are a tough team, ya? And we're down a player and still breaking in a new one. I'm proud that we still managed to give them a run for their money, right guys?" He turned to the rest of the team, nodding firmly at them, and the other players gave some small smiles and nods of their own.

"Is that what you think, Captain Pelekai?" Clayton asked dangerously.

Wakka hesitated a moment, but nodded, "Yeah, coach," he said, standing his ground. "That's what I think. The team did good. I think we learned a lot from this game. One loss isn't gonna hurt us."

"I agree," Riku said stepping up to stand beside Wakka, and Roxas nodded in approval at the show of solidarity between their two Captains. "We've got a couple of weeks before the next game. By then Meg will have more experience with the team, Holani will be back in rotation, and we'll have had a chance to put into practice what we learned here tonight. So we lost. It happens. We'll do better next time."

Silence fell over the locker room as the rest of the team anxiously watched Coach Clayton for his reaction. The tension in the air seemed to build with every passing moment until Clayton finally spoke.

"Since it seems that the two of you are in agreement on this point," he began, "I now see that I have been ignoring a grievous error."

"What?" Tidus suddenly spoke up, "Coach, you can't!"

Roxas reached up to hold his friend back, shooting a look at Hayner as a sinking feeling settled in his gut.

"A team is only as strong as its leadership," Clayton pressed on, and more voices raised in protest as the other players began realizing what was about to happen. "_Silence!_" He snarled and was instantly obeyed though the air was still filled with rage.

"The events of these past weeks have shown me that this team is in need of stronger leadership. As of next week, Mr. Khuloa and Mr. Raudy will be taking over as Captain and Vice-Captain of this team. Perhaps in the hands of more experience players, this team will become something actually worth coaching."

With that, Clayton made his exit, vanishing in the ringing silence left behind in the wake of his last statement. There was shock on the faces of everyone in the room including the two new captains.

"_Graav_ is our new captain?!" Hayner said suddenly, effectively breaking the spell of silence in the room, and that opened the floodgates for all the bitching to begin.

"No fucking way," Roxas was startled by the voice that had spoken, turning quickly to find Axel, Sora, Kairi and Naminé all standing behind him and the others. Axel was the one who had spoken and moved quickly over to where Riku and Wakka were still standing, completely shell shocked. Roxas joined the others in following after him, fighting past the rest of the team who were all clamoring their protests at the two boys they still viewed as their captains.

"Guys, _shut up!_" Tidus finally screamed into the chaos, and silence fell again. "He…he can't _do_ this!" Tidus said struggling to contain his anger.

"Yeah, well he just did," Riku snapped before shoving his way through the crowd. Everyone just stared after him, not sure how to respond to the sudden outburst. Roxas looked to Axel but noted that the redhead was actually watching Sora. He gave a small smirk when the brunet looked around to the rest of the team, then gave a frustrated sigh before quickly heading in the same direction that Riku had vanished, the team parting for him to pass. Only then did Axel turn his eyes back to Roxas, raising his eyebrows knowingly. Roxas rolled his eyes in return, focusing back on Tidus who was now talking urgently to Wakka.

"I'll talk to Auron," he was saying, "I'll talk to my dad, hell I'll take this up with Principal Xemnas if I have to! Wakka, you worked your ass off for this position! Gave up a spot on Varsity! He can't just take this away from you!"

"Well, as Riku said," Wakka finally spoke, voice flat, void of the confidence and strength that they were accustomed to hearing from their captain, "he just did. Now if you'll all excuse me," he headed off towards his locker in the boy's section of the locker room. Tidus followed after him, but the rest of the team just stayed put.

"I can't believe any of this," Hayner stated flatly, flopping down onto one of the benches in the room. "It's like a bad dream."

"Well I think it's about time this team finally got some captains who know what the hell they're doing," Bickson's voice suddenly called out. All heads angrily snapped in his direction where he was comfortably standing with Graav, Abus, Raudy and Meg, who was also shooting him warning looks.

"Are you _still_ here," Rikku growled out, flipping her mess of blonde braids over her shoulder as she huffed into a seat as well.

"You're not even a part of this team anymore, asshole," Yuffie bit out. "This is none of your business."

"Oh, I'll be back," Bickson said, sneering a cruel smile at her, "and when I am, there are going to be some big changes around here. That's a promise."

Rikku jumped to her feet, anger clear in her posture, but Paine placed a restraining hand on her shoulder, shaking her head.

"Let's get out of here, ladies," she said looking over at Yuna, Yuffie, and Mulan as well. "There's a little too much testosterone in the air for my taste."

With that, the females on the team exited to their part of the locker room, Meg sending one last irritated glare at Bickson before following the other girls out.

"I've gotta get changed for work," David sighed, walking away, running his hands through his still damp hair. This left Roxas, Hayner, Axel and Naminé alone with the other four players, who still stood around congratulating each other.

"C'mon," Roxas said nudging Hayner, "Let's get changed. We'll see you guys in the stands," he said speaking to his twin and Axel.

"This gonna be alright, Roxas?" Axel asked, eyeing the other guys critically,

"Guess we won't find out until next week," Roxas sighed in response. Naminé came over and pulled him into an embrace, ignoring his still wet hair and the damp towel around his shoulders, then stepped back to do the same for Hayner.

"I'm sure you guys are worrying over nothing," she said with a soft smile, stepping back to stand with Axel again. "Things will work out. I know it."

"I sure as hell hope so, Nami," Hayner said with a sigh, "because I'm afraid that I'm about to start hating this team."

-:- -:- -:-

Riku sat outside on the roof of the P.E. building watching the sky as the sun sank into the ocean beyond. He was still in his game suit though it was peeled half off his chest allowing his upper body to dry. It was a bit chilly now in the evening air, but he didn't care much. The slight breeze felt nice against his skin and the view of the sky and the sea from the roof was soothing. Plus, there was no one else up there. He really didn't feel much up to being around many people at the moment.

That had…really sucked. He hadn't expected for it to hurt as much as it did to have his vice-captaincy taken away. He'd never exactly made huge effort to gain the position, but it was something he'd held with pride. He'd taken the role very seriously especially if it meant that he could be there to support one of the few people he considered real friends in his life. But then Wakka…

Wakka was a born leader. There was a reason he'd earned the position after only one year of playing. He was meant for the job. The team loved him, even the older players. He never treated anyone like a subordinate, but did manage to still bring out the best in all of them. And Wakka loved the team in return. He spent most of his time looking for ways to improve everyone's game, figure out how they could better work as a team. The team was everything to him. He must have been crushed. Riku knew that he should have been there with him now making sure he was alright, but where was he instead? Sitting alone on the roof pouting like a five year old. What a pathetic excuse for a friend.

He growled in irritation when he heard the roof access door open, and turned to glare whoever it was away. Unfortunately, his glare was intercepted by a projectile of some kind…something of the soft and fluffy variety.

"Y'know, you'll get sick sitting up here half naked like that," a very familiar voice said, and Riku pulled the towel that had landed on his face away to find Sora strolling casually towards him. His glare softened to more of a scowl, but there wasn't really anything behind it.

"What are you doing up here anyway, Holani?" he grumbled. "I don't remember asking for company."

"Well, lucky you," Sora said settling beside him on the tarmac, "I'm psychic enough to offer it without you asking."

Riku just shook his head, looking back out to the steadily darkening sky. "Why do you even bother with me?" he asked bitterly. "You should be back at the game with your other friends. Believe me, I'm not worth the time."

Sora gusted a small laugh. "I never pegged you for the angsty-emo type, Riku," he said with a smile, "That always seemed more Paine's thing."

Riku chose to ignore the comment and allowed silence to fall between them. He hadn't asked for company and despite what Sora thought he knew, Riku didn't particularly want any either. If Sora was gonna sit there, that was his choice. It was a free rooftop. That didn't mean that Riku had to entertain him.

"So that kind sucked what happened back there," Sora said at length, squirming a little in his seat.

"Ya think?" Riku responded dully. It kinda made him feel like a bigger ass that he was being so rude when really, the kid was just trying to help, but he really just didn't feel up to being sociable.

"Well…" Sora tried again, "I just wanted to make sure you were ok, is all. I mean, yeah you weren't as vocal and open with the team as Wakka, but I know that you took the job really seriously. I mean, you always spoke up for us, helped me when you didn't have to, and I know you wouldn't have done that if you didn't really care."

"For all the good it did you in the end," Riku grumbled still not looking at Sora, yet Sora laughed a little at the comment and this did bring Riku's attention away from the sky.

"Yeah," Sora said smiling softly, looking out towards the horizon. There was a strange peace about him considering the subject they were discussing, and Riku couldn't help but wonder at it. "It's funny though," Sora continued. "Despite the amazing amounts of pain the whole mess with Bickson brought, a lot of really good things came out of it."

"How do you mean?" Riku asked raising a skeptical eyebrow. "Don't tell me you're that happy to have gotten out of school for a week."

"No," Sora said cocking his head a little, "but I wouldn't be sitting here talking to you right now if things hadn't happened the way they did would I?" Sora turned his head to look at him and Riku was caught off guard by those amazing eyes of his. Riku didn't know how he had missed them before, but ever since that day in the tank when he had watched the light and life fade from Sora's eyes, Riku found that meeting Sora's azure gaze sparked something in him that hadn't been there before that fateful day.

In the fading light of sunset, Sora's eyes seemed to glow with a light all their own. His expression was open, honest, reminding Riku of the innocence and optimism that had irritated him so when he had first met the brunet. He'd been so sure that Sora was just ignorant and sheltered and completely unaware of just how cruel life could be. Perhaps it was a touch of jealousy that had sparked those emotions. Riku himself had been through so much in his short life; had lost his hope and innocence in the wake of the wasting illness that had taken his mother from him in the end. Yet, Sora, even when he was clearly being harassed and abused had just gone on like nothing had happened. Riku had convinced himself that that was due to plain ignorance and stupidity, but then Sora had shown him another side, and learning a little about the boy had changed his opinion of Sora entirely.

Now…Riku was just confused. Clearly, Sora was struggling with money, he apparently lived alone and had to take care of himself, he lived with daily harassment, had almost _died,_ gotten sick because of it, yet and still, he managed to sit there with that contented smile, light shining from those eyes as if everything in his life was ok. Riku just couldn't understand how anyone could come out of such shitty circumstances and still find some good in the situation. And here he was pouting because he'd been stripped of a title. At least he could still play, at least he hadn't almost lost his life for the ability to do so.

Riku couldn't stand to look into those eyes anymore. In them, he could see all of his flaws reflected in painful relief, but that wasn't what bothered him. What Riku found most disturbing was the way sitting there with Sora made him want to not only acknowledge those flaws, but to fix them. It was like in the depths of Sora's eyes, Riku could see the key to taking himself apart and putting himself back together better than he currently was, and Riku really wasn't sure how he felt about that.

"Y'know," Sora spoke again into the not quite awkward silence between them. "I don't think I ever thanked you…y'know, for saving my life."

Riku was startled back into looking at the other boy again, and he caught the soft smile on his lips, the sincerity in his expression. Riku returned the smile with a small one of his own, intrigued by how the air somehow felt lighter now just from their few minutes of talking.

"Only you, Holani, would have a psycho attack you, end up bedridden for a week and still manage to remember 'thank you's after it all," Riku said chuckling lightly. Sora joined him, laughing very quietly but still flinching a little telling Riku that his ribs were still a bit tender.

"Well, y'know," Sora continued, smiling still but expression leaning more towards an awkward that Riku found…rather endearing, "it's kind of a big deal…, and seeing as you did save my life and everything, I'd hope we could at least be at first-name standing."

Riku blinked at this, replaying his last statement in his head. Was he still calling Sora by his family name? That seemed so strange to him because he could have sworn that he at least _thought_ of the other boy as 'Sora' rather than 'Holani'….

"Uh…right," Riku nodded, mildly confused now, but letting that fall away as he threw Sora a quizzical expression. "What was your name again?" he asked and that earned him smack against the back of his head. He laughed out loud at the unimpressed look Sora gave him at that, and fell backwards to lay down, staring up at the sky still smiling. Silence fell between them again and it was distinctly more comfortable than Riku had felt alone with Sora…pretty much ever. Their relationship was odd to say the least, but Riku was beginning to feel that he might be adding another name to his admittedly short list of real friends. Sora was really starting to grow on him.

"So, y'know…" Sora began after a while and the sky had grown almost completely dark, "even if _you_ don't mind getting sick out here, I'd really rather not since I'm technically still recovering, so…"

Riku shot Sora a startled look taking in the other boy's shorts, flip-flops, and tank top. The island was warm, but it was getting deeper into fall and evening temperatures were dropping. Every mother hen instinct in Riku suddenly awakened as he drew an irritated breath between his teeth.

"God, Sora! You really are an idiot!" He snatched the towel from around his own shoulders and draped it over Sora's, pulling him to a standing position and dragging him back down into the warmth of the P.E. building.

"Jeez Riku," Sora laughed as he was dragged along, "if I didn't know any better I'd think you actually cared."

Riku shot him a scathing glare before shoving him through the rooftop door.

-:- -:- -:-

So Sora's 'We're glad you're not dead' party turned into Wakka and Riku's 'We'll murder Clayton in his sleep if you want us to' party, and the small gathering of friends that it was going to be at first turned into almost the entire population of blitzers in the school with the exception of a few special individuals. Sora found that he didn't mind one bit. He hadn't been too thrilled about the evening being about him to begin with, and now that he had considerably fewer issues to stress over, he was actually able to just sit back and enjoy the company of friends and teammates.

They had ended up at a restaurant named _Paopu Island_, incidentally owned by Wakka's family and the place where David worked. Nani hadn't heard about what happened because she left the game early to cover a shift for their mom, but apparently David had informed her of all that had gone down because as soon as the team entered the place, she fell upon them like a mother bear.

"Where is he?" She snapped into the crowd. "Wakka!" spotting her brother she shoved her way to him almost snarling in her fury. "I'm gonna slice off that bastard's _chinchi,_ sauté it in _palene_ sauce and shove it up his ass. Maybe that'll teach him to mess with my _otoe_!"

"Woah, _nihe,_ calm down," Wakka said, looking at his sister a little nervously. She actually was clutching a carving knife in her hand. The others laughed as he steered her away, speaking with her in quiet tones while the rest of them took over several booths in the establishment. With two kids on the blitz team, Wakka and Nani's parents made sure to have space reserved for the team after games every Friday. They were loud and obnoxious, but they were island kids. A lot of the tourist who happened to be in when the team was there really got a kick out of seeing the mass of teens together. Things tended to be interesting when blitzers congregated.

"I don't know," David shouted over the voices of the others as he set a tray of water down on one of the tables, "I think Nani has a good idea. Clayton's gone too far this time."

"Yeah, but then someone would have to see the guy naked!" Larxene called out, "Much as I love Wacky and Reeks, I'd like to keep my eye sight, thanks. Nobody needs to see that shit!"

"Oh, c'mon Larx!" Axel called back to her, lounging comfortably in the booth next to the one where she was sitting, "I thought you were into kinks. This'll fit perfectly in one of your little bondage fantasies."

"Eat me flamer!" Larxene called back putting a particular finger on display for Axel to see.

"In front of all these people? Didn't know exhibitionism was on your list!"

Sora sat amongst the chaos, just taking it all in. They sat in one of those booths with one really long seat wrapped around a table, and around him sat Roxas, Kairi, Axel, Naminé, Riku, and an empty seat reserved for Wakka. Tidus, Hayner, Yuna, Rikku, and Paine were at the table across from them, and all around, there was Blitzball madness. Voices shouting, reliving some of the better moments from the JV game, others praising Varsity for their victory. It was crazy…but somehow, it was great too. Unlike the last time Sora had been surrounded with all of these people, things were going really well in his life. This time around he could really just revel in being surrounded by friends, new and old, and compounded with the knowledge that such moments would be few and far between in his near future, it just made everything perfect.

"Riku!!" Sora was startled when he heard a distinctly younger voice in amongst the sounds of shouting teens and looked over just in time to see a small girl of about 5 or 6 years launch herself into Riku's lap, Riku smiling as he returned the girls embrace.

"How's it goin' Li-li?" he asked, ruffling her hair as she shifted to sit next to him into Wakka's seat.

"It's Li_lo_ ya big meanie," she pouted punching him in the arm. Sora snickered when Riku flinched rubbing at his arm where the girl had struck. Riku caught the sound and shot him a playful glare from across the table before returning his attention to the small girl. "You didn't come over after Paopu School on Saturday," she pouted, "I waited and waited, but then I felt the house shaking and I thought it had to be giant mutant sea turtles attacking, so I hid in my secret bunker in my room until Nani told me it was time for dinner. We had spaghetti," Sora blinked, trying to figure out exactly what the girl had been talking about, but he only had a moment to wonder at her words before Axel was leaning over to talk to him.

"That's Nani and Wakka's kid sister Lilo," he explained, smirking as he watched the two interact. "She's got Ricky wrapped around her little finger." Sora snorted again as this point was demonstrated, Riku now attempting to bribe the girl with milkshakes to gain her forgiveness. Lilo was stubbornly shaking her head refusing to look at Riku like and angry lover.

"C'mon Li, peanut butter-banana-coconut-lime, it's your favorite," Riku said in his most cajoling voice. "I'll even toss in some pineapple for free."

"No deal!," Lilo told him, shaking her head firmly. "I want a puppy!"

"A puppy?!" Riku repeated, face falling in shock.

"That's right!" she persisted "A puppy or I'm never talking to you again!"

Sora smiled seeing how comfortable Riku was with the little girl. He'd never thought Riku of all people would be good with kids. The guy really was just full of surprises, speaking of which…

"Riku goes to Paopu School?" he asked Axel as Lilo continued being stubborn and Riku continued to try to persuade.

Axel raised an eyebrow at him and snorted. "Yeah, that's kinda how we met."

Sora blinked at him. "_You_ go to Paopu School?"

"Don't act so surprised," Axel said, acting affronted, "I've got plenty of cultural sensitivity, in't dat right Rocky?" Sora didn't catch Roxas' quiet reply, lost in his own thoughts as he processed this new information. Paopuan National was the school that Island kids went to officially as a place for education both fundamental and cultural, but there was also an optional Cultural School that students could attend if they wanted to study their heritage more in-depth. The school didn't have many students, and those who attended usually were hoping to stay on and continue passing on the details of their culture to teach future generations…and both Axel and Riku and apparently Wakka were attending.

Sora was knocked out of his thoughts quite literally when Axel suddenly lunged at Roxas, falling over Sora who was sitting between the two. It was a good thing the table was bolted to the floor and they hadn't made food orders yet because the move definitely would have turned the table over and wasted a lot of their money. Instead of that, it just landed an evilly chuckling Axel across Sora's lap apparently attempting to tickle Roxas in retaliation for something the other boy said, Roxas yelling at Axel to not touch him, and Kairi and Naminé both giggling madly as they refused to allow Roxas out of the booth.

Axel had clearly forgotten about Sora and his still somewhat delicate state, and Sora found himself attempting to be heard over the madness as he tried to get Axel off of him. It was a useless endeavor, so seeing as he had no other choice, Sora set to squirming trying to slide himself from under Axel and trade seats with the skinny redhead. The fact that they were both so slim should have made it easy, but Axel kept squirming and Roxas was almost convulsing in his attempt to keep from giving into his giggles. Then Sora felt a hand reaching under his arm pulling to try to help him out and there was laughter everywhere as the rest of the room apparently watched the spectacle that their table was making and then Sora found himself pulled free, falling forward and landing on something warm and firm.

He inhaled a scent that was very familiar and sent a pleasant hum through his nerves even as his brain registered what the warm/firm thing he landed on must have been and his face began heating as he tried to scramble off. Riku's hand was still on his arm, however, and Sora's body was still twisted awkwardly under him and he groaned in pain as his ribs protested his attempt to rise. Riku's hands were there again, and Sora squeezed his eyes shut, accepting the aid as he tried to convince himself that no, he had _not_ face planted into Riku's crotch, no, it had _not_ happened in front of every Blitzball player in the school, and no, he had _not_ kind of liked it…ok, so maybe not so strongly to that last one….

By the time Sora was sitting properly again, his face was still red, Riku was pressing his palm to his forehead, leaning forward so that his face was hidden by silver layers of hair. Axel was lounging smugly as if nothing had happened, an arm tossed casually on the cushioning behind Roxas' head, Roxas was glaring at Axel looking mussed and grumpy, and Kairi and Naminé both where whispering secretively to each other. The rest of the players were now distracted as food orders were being made and Sora just tried to steady the very noticeable pounding of his heart.

He felt a sudden poke on his shoulder and looked up to find Lilo standing on the seat leaning towards him over Riku's back. She pointed a chubby finger in his face pouting firmly at him.

"Riku said you're the reason he didn't visit last week," she told him with all the indignation that her 5 or 6 years could offer. "That means you owe me a puppy!" And then with a final glare, she hopped down and stomped away.

The absurdity of the situation was…flabbergasting. Sora just sat staring after the girl for a few seconds, but then he noticed the muffled sounds coming from Riku as well as the other boy's shaking shoulders and it was all just too much. Despite the still present ache in his side, Sora allowed himself to fall against Riku's back as he too crumbled into laughter.

-:- -:- -:-

The rest of the evening went by a bit tamer but no less hilarious. Wakka had come over eventually with a wry smile and joined their table, and Nani and David, acting as their servers even managed to spend a great deal of their time with the teams. Sora didn't have much money to spend and only ordered a small order of fries, yet somehow, everyone at their table ordered a little too much food and they all ended up sharing. It made Sora feel vaguely pathetic, but he was still not stupid enough to turn food away out of nothing more than stubborn pride.

The night was winding down, most of the other players gone until there were only a few of them left and the restaurant was nearing closing time. Sora had ended up beside Riku for the rest of the evening, and despite the fact that he was pretty sure it had been a set up, he didn't mind one bit. He decided that more time with Riku was definitely not a bad thing. He was beginning to understand what Kairi had meant about the other boy. There was definitely something…different in him when he was surrounded by people he trusted, and Sora couldn't help the warm tightening in his chest when he realized that he fell amongst those that the silver-haired boy held in his trust.

"Hey, guys," Wakka said after a lull in their already slow conversation, "you ready for the bill?" Sora looked around confused as the other people around all suddenly perked up and seemed a bit more awake.

"Definitely," Demyx declared from the booth behind them. Axel and Roxas had joined him and Zexion there after everyone else had cleared from the booth. Yuffie had joined Hayner, Tidus, and Yuna at their table, and Kairi and Naminé still sat with Sora Riku and Wakka in their booth. Smiling, Wakka raised a hand signaling his sister and then Nani vanished through a pair of wooden saloon style doors only to appear a few moments later carrying a small cake with tall sparking candles. The group around him began singing the Paopuan song of birth celebration, some singing the words perfectly, others stumbling over them, and Sora just stared on in confusion as the cake was put in front of him and everyone watched him expectantly once they had finished singing.

"I-I don't get it," Sora stammered looking around at his friends over the candles. "My birthday was like, two weeks ago…you guys were all _there_. Wha—what-whu…?" Sora gestured at the cake not even bothering to voice the question properly.

"It was Riku's idea," Zexion said smoothly.

"Since, _someone_ ruined your party for you," Demyx continued, thumping the back of Riku's head with a flicked finger.

"You didn't even get any of your cake," Kairi added smiling.

Sora was overwhelmed. He really didn't think that anyone had cared. He'd been resigned to forget that day had ever happened and figured everyone else had as well, but here he was, sitting with friends who wanted to make sure that he had some happy memories to associate with the anniversary of his 15th year on the planet.

Riku was watching him warily, but gave a small smile as he gestured at the cake. "Consider it do-overs," he said. The smile became more self-deprecating, "That day kinda marked the beginning of my recovery from chronic assholeism."

Sora couldn't even laugh. It felt like he was going to choke on all of the emotions swelling in his chest. Looking first at all of the people around him then turning back to his cake, he closed his eyes and made a wish; one that seemed a lot less impossible to attain in that moment than it ever had before.

He took a deep breath and blew out all of his candles.

-:- -:- -:-

**A/N:**

Dekimashita! Dude…this chapter…I wasn't expecting like, half the stuff that happened. Never before have I felt more like just a vehicle to the telling of a tale rather than the one making it up. Seriously I was shocked by half the stuff I found out when writing this. Anyway…

Things of note this chapter:

Kuzco from _The Emporor's New Groove_; Lilo from _Lilo and Stitch_ "…mutant sea turtles" quote c/o my beautiful beta **Lokotei**; Bickson's back-story revealed! Meg's involvement comes out! RiSo goodness; Kairi came back; more hints of AkuRoku, and more rising action. Yays! Also…

Paopuan Terminology:

_Wahala- _wah-HA-lah – I understand

_Otoe – _o-thO-eh_ – _younger brother (it's a really soft 'th' sound)

_Nihe – _NEE-heh –sis; sister

_Chinchi _– CHIN-chee – use your imagination

_Palene –_pah-LEH-neh –and extremely hot pepper that grows on the island

**Review** and let me know if this starts getting too lame…


	11. Ch 9: Paopu Island

**Standard Disclaimer:** Not mine…never have been, never will be…

**Notes: **Ok…this time…camping, finally. I've been trying to get here for like the past 2 chapters or something. Be prepared for a whole lot of culture! Thanks as always to **Lokotei** for betaing this for me!

**Warnings:** Gratuitous use of Disney and Square characters, language, at least one homosexual relationship, bigoted ass-holes, semi non-con encounters, made-up culture and language, lots of Blitzball, and general teen awkwardness. Enjoy!

-:-finem-:-

**Life on the Blitz**

**Chapter 9: **

**Paopu Island**

Life went back to normal after the Blitz gathering on Friday…well, whatever passed as normal for Sora anyway. He got to go back to work at Black Pearl on Saturday, taking it easy as directed by his bosses and staying entertained by working and plotting with Jim. He moved back into his apartment, telling Cid that he would pay him back somehow for his miss shifts. Cid's response was so colorful that Sora wasn't sure he was actually old enough to have heard it, but the gist of it was that Sora was considered a regular employee, and like all other employees, was entitled to medical leave when the need arose. He'd never even thought about that really, but Sora was grateful for it all the same.

All in all, the week leading up to the big school trip was business as usual…even with blitz practice. The fun part was that since Graav and Raudy were in charge, they had free reign to harass him as much as they wanted to. Though, oddly, without Bickson around, they seemed less inclined to pointlessly pick on Sora. It seemed that Coach was his primary source of grief at this point. Every time Sora tried to take a break to rest his still tender ribs a bit, he was told in no uncertain terms that if he couldn't keep up with the rest of the team, he would be replaced. This of course meant leaving practice every day in agony, but the plus side to everything was that since he and Riku were apparently official friends now, that meant that he got free rides home every night.

"This is so stupid," he said to the silver-haired boy the Thursday before they were scheduled to depart for their camp site. "Even though Graav and Raudy are supposed to be captains now, you and Wakka are still the ones who are doing all the real captain stuff. Graav couldn't care less about helping us improve our game, and Raudy barely does anything different from what he used to. This team is becoming one giant joke!"

"Yeah, well. Maybe Coach'll get fired when we start getting our asses kicked," Riku muttered turning a corner. "Tidus followed through with everything he said on Friday, but got the same response from everyone. It's Clayton's team. He can do whatever he sees to be in its best interest. That's a load of bullshit if you ask me."

"Ugh! If anyone just came to practice they'd see how screwed up everything is!" Sora threw his head back against the seat, heaving a frustrated sigh.

"Easy there, tiny. We don't need you hurting anything else." Sora stuck his tongue out as they pulled up in front of his apartment.

"Right, I see how it is," Riku said laughing at the childish gesture. "Get out of my car, ass."

Sora grinned broadly as he complied. "Yeah, I see where your mind is," he said teasingly and was very pleased with the sudden deer-in-headlights look that appeared on Riku's face. Taking that as a sign of victory, he walked away from the car. "I'll see you in the morning," he called over his shoulder.

"Be out here by seven or I'm leaving you!" Riku shouted at his back in a last attempt to salvage his dignity apparently. Sora just waved without turning and walked to the entrance to his complex. He turned to wave one last time, knowing that Riku would be waiting for him to get inside before pulling away, then headed to his room to take a few minutes of quiet before his shift began.

He breathed a contented sigh thinking about his former vice-captain. He could barely believe how different their relationship was now compared to the beginning of the year. Life was weird like that sometimes. He wondered how much more things would change over the coming weeks, but quickly tore his mind from that topic. He'd been thinking about what Kairi had told him about Riku and—considering the older boy's reaction to small teases like the one he'd just delivered—Sora was pretty there was some validity to her theory. The question was, what should he do about it?

-:- -:- -:-

Friday morning dawned cloudy and cool, unusual for the island but the change was nice; perfect weather for hiking around in a rain forest. There was a distinct buzz of excitement in the air as students sat around, back packs stuffed with provisions for the weekend, sleeping bags tucked beside them or under their chairs.

"Alright class," Ms. Gainsborough called from the front of the room, attracting everyone's attention. "I know you're all excited to get going, but there are just a few things that I need to go over with all of you first." The buzz in the room settled immediately and their homeroom teacher smiled, settling comfortably on the table behind her before she began speaking again at her normal voice level.

"Before we leave, I'd like to take roll quickly to make sure that everyone is here."

"I'm not here!" Hayner said as soon as she finished speaking, earning groans from around the room and a couple of balls of paper thrown at his head.

"Really, Hayner?" Ms. Gainsborough asked innocently. "It's too bad you won't be joining us then."

The class snickered, but Hayner just leaned back, smiling confidently at his teacher. "Oh, c'mon, Ms. G. You know you'd never go anywhere without me."

Roxas coughed suddenly from behind him, a sound that sounded suspiciously like _coughT.M.Icough_ and the whole class, including the teacher, got a good laugh as Hayner turned a lovely shade of red and shot a glare over his shoulder at his best friend.

"Let me finish or we're going to miss our shuttle time," Ms. Gainsborough said, still giggling slightly. "Just make sure you're in your assigned seats so that I can get through this quickly."

A few students moved from where they were standing with other friends to sit in their proper seats, and the teacher quickly checked faces against her seating chart. Seeing that everyone was present, she set aside her roll book and smiled widely at the room again.

"So, I have a bit of a surprise for you all," she said, and this, of course, gained everyone's attention. "As most of you should know, for quite some time now there has been a project underway to restore sections of the windward side of the island to their natural state before the islands were colonized. This is where we always go for the school camping trip so that we can gather materials for our Cultural Demonstration."

Heads around the room nodded, a few people leaning over to explain in further detail to confused friends.

"Well, I've been a member of the restoration committee for a couple of years now," she continued, "and there's big news," if anything her smile seemed to grow bigger as she kept talking. "We didn't want to say anything before it was certain but...it looks like this year, and from now on, the Cultural Demonstration will be held at the restoration site in authentic Paopuan villages created exactly for this purpose."

The room was silent for a beat too long and, the teacher's smile began to falter, but then a mass of confusion broke out across the room. Reactions were mixed. There were some who where confused as to why that was supposed to be good news, others who were completely apathetic on the matter, and others who thought that the announcement was the greatest thing ever spoken by anyone, each for their own reasons.

Sora fell into the latter of these categories. He didn't have many opportunities to demonstrate it with all the madness his life had become, but he had always felt a deep connection to his roots. His father had been the same, and there were many fond memories of laying under the stars listening to his father recount one of countless legends passed on from generation to generation. Theirs was an ancient culture, one so much older than any of the visiting tourists realized, and the idea that the Paopuan people had come so close to being wiped out completely was something that shook Sora to his core whenever he though about it.

There had never been a question as to whether or not he would attend Paopuan National. It was a given. He had attended several of the Cultural Demonstrations in the past, and while decorated beautifully and made to look like a completely different place, having such an event on school grounds always seemed to take away from the experience. But a Demonstration at the restoration site; an opportunity to experience their culture in the same setting as their ancestors...it would be like taking a step back in time. The very idea of it sent a pleasant tingle through his nerves.

It seemed that Ms. Gainsborough took the noise as a good sign because her smile went back to full wattage and she clapped her hands to get everyone's attention. "Thing's will be explained in greater detail once we get to the site," she told them, "but I just couldn't wait to let you all know. Anyway, back to business.

"There are 10 busses in total that will be cycling from here to the camp site over the course of the next few hours moving students and equipment for the weekend. Our departure time is 8:50. Our task once we get to the site is to begin setting up for lunch."

She went on, going into detail about what they would be doing and when they would be doing it, double checking to make sure everyone had their emergency information filed out, handing out itineraries and other useful documents and basically covering the logistics of the trip. It was all quite impressive really. There were almost 1300 students to organize as well as a couple hundred teachers and parent chaperones to deal with. Planning this endeavor must have been a nightmare. The Cultural Demonstration was the biggest event of the year, and one of the most important ones as well. It intentionally coincided with the fall Harvest Festival—an important time for their people in the past—and so was an ideal time to educate all on Paopuan society.

"Alright guys, that's about it," Ms. Gainsborough finished, clasping her hands. "Are there any questions?" Silence filled the room. "Alright then, it's about time for us to go. Let's head over to the loading zone and get this adventure going!"

-:- -:- -:-

All things told, the trip went smoothly, Sora, Tidus, Roxas and Hayner up to their usual antics to the amusement of most and irritation of others. There was just a lot of excitement in the air. Their bus was full of other freshmen, and for the most part, it was the first time that any of them had been on a trip of this scale before.

It was only a short half hour to the restoration site, and Sora's eyes were all but glowing, taking in everything as they drove through the lush forest. They pulled into a decent sized parking area nestled in amongst the trees, seeing students already gathered and other buses pulling away. The bus came to a stop and the doors opened.

Ms. Gainsborough stood at the front of the bus. "Make sure to take any garbage you brought on out with you," she said. "We still have a little bit of a walk before we get to where you can leave your things, so be ready for it." With that, she exited and the students stood to do the same.

The hike through the restoration site was breathtaking. They hadn't just restored the area. An entire cultural center was now in place ready to accept students and tourists alike. They were all handed maps of the place as they entered through the main gateway, and it showed how there were six distinct locations laid out in the same way that the actual island chain was. Sora's class was led to the area representing the island Solace, and Ms. Gainsborough called them to a halt.

"This is where we will be stationed for the weekend, everyone," she called over the chattering students. "The huts are all labeled and you already have your room assignments, so after we're done here, go ahead and put your things down and get settled a bit. Meet at the fire pit at ten and we'll lead you to where lunch will be served. If you have any problems, the chaperones will be in Hut 'A'. Otherwise, have fun!"

With that, she turned the students loose to do as they pleased.

"Hey, Tidus," Sora said, moving with the rest of their class to the two huts to which they were assigned, "isn't your dad supposed to be with us?" Tidus had mentioned before that his dad was coming along on the trip to help supervise all of the students, but as of yet, Sora had not seen hide nor hair of the world famous Blitzball player.

"He came on one of the earlier shuttles to get things set up here first," Tidus replied with a shrug. "He'll be with us later I'm pretty sure."

"Yeah, I think a lot of the parents are just running around making fun of us together or something," Hayner said hefting his back pack. "Both of my 'rents took the day off to come to this thing but I haven't seen them since they dropped me off this morning."

"Oh, they're probably just happy to get away from you," Roxas joked lightly. Hayner shot him a small glare, but continued to set up his sleeping bag in the corner they had chosen as their own.

"Hey, let's find out if any of the others are in this village," Sora suggested as they finished. The boys shrugged and nodded and they heading out into the warming day, enjoying the freedom of not being in school.

-:- -:- -:-

"So what are you guys assigned to do for the Demonstration?" Olette asked as the group of friends walked to the lunch area a bit later. Their village seemed to be inhabited primarily by freshmen, meaning that the boys had located pretty much all of their friends with minimal difficulty. There was a bit of a hubbub when Tidus stumbled into one of the girls' huts on accident, but that was more about convincing the girls to give him back than anything.

"I'm apparently going to be teaching people how to make native toys," Sora said looking down at his assignment. "That shouldn't be too bad. I already know how to make those leaf fish things and grass whistles and stuff."

"Serious?" Hayner asked. "I'm assigned to spear making. That sounds like a way more badass way to spend a day. Warrior training."

"Have you ever made a Solacian Spear before?" Sora asked, looking at the other boy dubiously.

"No, but it can't be that bad, right?" Hayner's expression dropped when he saw the look on Sora's face. "Right?!"

Sora just shrugged and walked ahead to join Roxas and Naminé.

"What's so bad about Solacian Spears?" Naminé asked him softly with a look of quiet concern.

Sora shrugged. "I've never even heard of 'em," he admitted. Roxas snorted loudly at that, Naminé hiding a giggle behind her hand.

"What?!" Hayner cried from behind them, and that just made the forward three laugh even harder.

"Hey, look," Roxas pointed, and Sora followed his finger to see a group of students and a few people he didn't recognize working on the stage at the front of the large eating area. His attention was caught immediately by a familiar flash of silver hair and he found himself perking up immediately at the sight of Riku.

"Hm, someone looks a little excited." Sora jumped almost a foot in the air when Kairi's voice suddenly came from beside him, and Kairi continued walking, looking very please with herself.

He looked to his friend with a wry smile. "What are you talking about, Kairi?" He asked innocently. "I'm just glad to see...Wakka." Their former Captain was sitting on the stage beside Riku. "Yeah...I think I'll go over and see how Wakka's doing."

"I'm sure Riku will love you for it," Kairi drawled, and Sora smiled winningly for her.

While the rest of their class followed the orders of the chaperones and began wiping down tables, Sora and Roxas slipped off to see what their friends by the stage were up to. As they were walking, Sora noticed Riku casually chatting with a couple of girls, smiling and laughing easily. It was such a contrast to the Riku that he remembered from Tidus' party at the beginning of the year that he found himself stopping to stare.

The older boy's posture was completely different. Where before, there had seemed to be a wall separating him from everyone else, he now looked more willing to be open. He wasn't cutting himself off the way he once would have, and that made Sora feel... strange. There was a part of him that was really happy. All he had ever wanted for the sophomore was for him to feel relaxed around others, to not seem like he was all alone in the world, and that's exactly how he seemed now. Usually, Riku was only this relaxed when he was among close friends.

Sora was vaguely mystified when he felt his heart clench a little watching the small group interact. There was definitely a part of him that was glad, but there was another part that was now beginning to get worried and maybe even a little bit jealous? He and Riku had finally come to some sort of agreement on how they were going to treat each other, and Sora thought that they were friends now, but what if had just been a fluke. There was nothing really outstanding about Sora; no reason for Riku to continue wasting his time hanging around someone so obviously beneath him. With Riku's apparent loss of social awkwardness, Sora was beginning to wonder if this would be the beginning of his removal from Riku's circle; if maybe, he was just a few steps away from being on the outside again, wishing to have some place in the other boy's life.

Wakka, having taken note of Sora's careful scrutiny and slowly falling expression nudged Riku slightly and the silver-haired boy looked up. He saw Sora standing there, smiled for him and just like that, everything was alright again. In the face of Riku's smile, Sora wondered how he could ever have doubted the other boy's sincerity when it came to their friendship.

Excusing himself from the group, Riku made his way over to Sora's side, giving him an affectionate tussle of the hair in greeting. "What are you doing standing over here all alone? Aren't you supposed to be working?" he asked, and Sora looked around startled. Where had Roxas gone?

"Uh...I was just coming over to see what you guys were doing over here," he answered, scratching his head a little awkwardly.

"Oh, these are the other kids from the Cultural School. We got to come on the first shuttle to help get things set up."

"How much set up is there to do? It seems like half the school came early to 'help get things set up,'" Sora rolled his eyes, falling back into their easy companionship.

"Don't be jealous just because you had to ride the short bus," Riku teased, but kept going before Sora could offer an appropriately scathing return. "C'mon, I want to introduce you to Mowgli." Sora had no choice but to go as Riku came up behind him and began to push. He got a few strange looks from the other Paopu School students, but somehow, the warmth of Riku's hands guiding his shoulders made even that, okay.

-:- -:- -:-

"Well, well, well," Axel crooned from his position sitting on top of a table. He had spotted the small drama that was going on in Sora's head before Roxas was able to and had taken it upon himself to steal the blond boy away to observe with him. Now, as Riku led Sora away, he and Roxas sat together contemplating. "Doesn't look like our two little ducklings need as much assistance as we thought they would, does it?"

Roxas chuckled softly, shrugging a little. "I guess we underestimated both of them," he said, sitting properly on the table's bench and leaning against the table next to Axel's knees. "Sora may be a little naive, but he's not stupid, and Riku may be a bit of a shut-in, but he knows how to go for what he wants."

They lapsed into silence for a time before Axel spoke again.

"He's changed, y'know?" he commented softly, watching as Sora shook hands and exchanged greetings with head of the culture school. "Riku I mean. We've been doing Paopu School on weekends for years with this group, but this is the first time that he's put any honest effort into interacting with the rest of them. He always just stuck with me and Wakka, not even that in the beginning. He was such a weird kid."

Roxas looked up at the clearly fond expression on the redhead's face and felt a flash of warmth travel through his chest. Axel always acted like such a hard-ass. It was a rare moment that he would allow his masks to slip. Even though they had known each other for almost half their lives, Roxas had only seen it happen a handful of times, but there was always one connecting factor; the fronts would fall away in the presence of the people he truly cared for.

"I practically had to drag him kicking and screaming to eat lunch with the rest of the group the first time he came to class," Axel continued, lost in thoughts of the past. "It took a month before he realized that I wasn't going to leave him alone and he started joining us on his own."

"So then you've done good," Roxas told him, focusing on the other boy's voice. "It's taken a few years, but it looks like he's starting to get the picture."

Axel released an unexpected burst of laughter at that, causing several heads turn in his direction.

"Ho ho ho, Roxy! You slay me!" he joked, and Roxas thought that he detected a hint of straining in the redhead's voice. "I've known Riku almost as long as he'd been on this island, but none of these major changes began happening until sometime around the beginning of this year."

"You mean when he met Sora," Roxas clarified, and this was the obvious truth.

"Yep," Axel sighed. "I try for years and get nowhere, but one look from that scrawny-butt friend of yours and he goes all to pieces." There was no mistaking the touch of bitterness in Axel's voice, but it was overpowered completely by the fondness he clearly felt for both of the boys in question.

Roxas understood something about his friend then, and it put Axel in a completely different light than he'd ever seen the other boy before. It was clear that at some point, Axel had feelings for Riku, possibly still did, but he had let it go; had focused his attention on befriending the taciturn boy. Helping him make friends, slowly but stubbornly dragging him out of his shell despite his obvious reluctance. And all of that done, why? Maybe Axel had read the same loneliness in Riku that Sora did. Maybe under it all, Axel really was just a big, obnoxious teddy bear.

Roxas lifted a hand to smack Axel in the gut earning a satisfying grunt in response. "You're an idiot you know that?" Roxas asked, leaning his head back to look up at the older boy. Axel stopped before responding, taking the time to read Roxas' eyes and smiling slowly at what he saw there.

"I've been told," he returned, gently tickling the nape of Roxas' neck. Roxas sighed, leaning into the familiar touch that suddenly held so much more meaning. Riku wasn't the only one who seemed to be opening himself up more lately. Somehow, it seemed like Sora was at the center of a lot of changes that were going on.

"Roxas!" The moment of peace was suddenly broken. Roxas sat up to see a rather livid looking Hayner yelling at him from across the eating area. "Were you planning on helping some time this century, or were you just going to sit there on your ass, playing with your new boyfriend all day?!"

Roxas leapt up immediately, knowing that look and tone of voice coming from Hayner meant nothing good.

"I'll talk to you later," he told Axel walking away from the table. It looked like things might be a little less stress-free than he had hoped they would be this weekend.

-:- -:- -:-

Lunch that day was the most awkward affair Sora had ever experienced in his short life, and he couldn't figure out why. Roxas and Hayner were not speaking to each other now apparently, but things had been fine when they all had walked over together. What could have happened between now and then to make put so much tension in the air between the two?

No one wanted to bring up the subject because Hayner was obviously feeling volatile and the last thing anyone wanted was for him to make a scene in the middle of the lunch area, but it was also clear that whatever was bothering him had been festering for a while and that it was only a matter of time before it all came out. Hopefully Roxas and he would have a chance to talk later in the afternoon when they had there work assignments or something.

Sora's attention was pulled from his thoughts by the sound of tapping at the microphone on stage. He looked up to see Kuzco, Mowgli and a few others looking out at the students in the lunch area.

"I'm sure you guys are tired of hearing us yap by now," Kuzco said stepping up to a mic, "but we've got a few more announcements to make before we turn you loose, so listen up. We're only gonna do this once and the faster we get done the faster you're out. So, first off! To all my dancers out there this man will be your master for the rest of the weekend. Mowgli! Get over here!"

Sora smiled as Mowgli stepped forward, admiring the golden brown skin with its rich red undertone. The family resemblance between him and David had alerted Sora immediately that the two were kin of some kind, and he was told upon introduction that he was David's father. He instantly liked the man, and Sora was glad that he was going to get the chance to get to know him better over the weekend. Riku seemed to like Mowgli a lot as well judging by the rare, quiet smile that pulled at his lips when he spoke of him.

Mowgli went into detail about what the assignments for the weekend would be for the 200 students who would be participating in the final show on the day of the Demonstration. For the first night, they would all be sleeping with the rest of their classes in their assigned villages. The next morning, however, they would set out by ferry to smaller islands, which were just off the coast. There, they would gather materials and learn to make the garb they would be wearing during their performances.

"Before I turn things back over to Kuzco," Mowgli continued in his accented tenor. "I'd like to announce the two new additions to the Ahi'khuha, the fire dance. These young men have been working hard over the past year learning the technique and discipline needed to take on this element of our culture. The do us all proud in keeping it alive. Everyone, Axel Lei and Riku Anakhuli."

Mowgli stepped back and both Axel and Riku stood from where they were sitting with the other students from the culture school. The boys' awkward waving was greeted with applause from the gathered students, but Sora's jaw hit the ground.

Riku would be doing the Fire Dance? Forget the fact that the dance was fairly dangerous to the inexperienced; never mind the fact that since Sora had signed up for the support chanting for the Fire Dance, that meant that Riku would also be making the trip to the smaller island to camp with Sora and the rest of his friends. All of that was secondary because… the Fire Dance was part of a fertility ritual! It was all about flaunting masculinity, showing off endurance. Just the thought of Riku performing the gyrating hip movements, dressed in nothing but the grass skirt that was made specifically for the Dance and the traditional body paint, muscles rippling beneath heated skin…

There was a very strange yet not altogether unfamiliar stirring in Sora's gut, and he forcibly dragged his thoughts into a new direction… or at least he tried to. His eyes met Riku's across the room, and the other boy quirked an eyebrow at him before sitting back down. Sora held his gaze a moment longer, smiling for him, then turned his attention back to the awkwardness that still surrounded their table. This was definitely shaping up to be an interesting weekend.

-:- -:- -:-

The next morning dawned bright and joyous, brilliant rays of sunlight streaming across the land to wake two boys who had opted to camp outside and enjoy the warm tropical weather on the side of the island where they were. The two boys, in case you were wondering, happened to be Sora and Roxas, and appreciating the wonders of nature was not really the reason they had opted to camp outside rather than in the hut with the majority of other guys from their class.

Things after lunch had only gotten worse between Hayner and Roxas, Hayner glaring daggers and snapping angrily every time Roxas tried to ask him what was up. Roxas had gotten fed up with it and now, neither was talking to the other. For reasons that he could not fathom, Hayner's ire had also spread to Sora, and Hayner had, for the rest of the day, taken to spending all of his time with Pence and Olette, ignoring Roxas and Sora completely.

That night, after Roxas and Sora had opted to sit with Riku, Axel and their friends rather than endure another meal of awkwardness, Hayner seemed even angrier than before. Tidus had long abandoned the drama in favor of spending time with Yuna, and rather than let things continue until they exploded into the fight of epic proportions that was likely on the horizon, Roxas had removed himself from the equation. Sora had followed reluctantly, looking back at Hayner before leaving and receiving a sneer and a one finger salute in return.

That's how they had left it. There were a bunch of other kids sleeping outside, so no one questioned their relocation, but things were far more uncomfortable than they ever had been between the four boys who had joined blitz together.

"I seriously don't know what his problem is," Roxas growled as they lay in their sleeping bags, putting off getting up until they absolutely had to. "Hey always pulls shit like this. Getting all bent out of shape over something random but never telling anyone what he's pissed about. I don't even know why I put up with him sometimes!"

Sora winced at the raw fury in his voice. "Are you sure that you didn't do anything?" Sora asked. The question had come up before, but there was always the chance that Roxas was just missing something.

"No, Sora!" Roxas snapped. "I told you already. I've done nothing wrong. This is all Hayner being the ass that he is!"

Sora curled a little further down into his bag at the anger that was suddenly directed at him, upset and frustrated by the change in his friend dynamics.

"You ever think that you saying and thinking things like that might be the reason he's so upset?"

Both boys jumped at the voice that suddenly joined their conversation.

"Olette?" Roxas asked, recognizing the voice immediately. He rolled to face her and frowned at the severe look on her face. She was fully dressed and already looked ready for the day.

"I came out here looking for you because I know that both of you are too stupid to work this out on your own," she said, crossing her arms over her chest, a firm set to her jaw. "I'm sorry that you ended up in the middle of this Sora. It's really not your fault, but Roxas, you need to think long and hard about your relationship with Hayner over the past several weeks. I won't even mention me and Pence at this point, but think about it a bit, and then try talking to Hayner again." She turned preparing to leave.

"Wait, what?!" Roxas called to her back.

She paused and turned to look at him. "I'm not going to spell it out for you, Roxas," she said, and there was a hint of sorrow coloring her voice. "If you can't figure it out on your own, then I'm going to have to side with Hayner on this one." She quirked a final sad smile for him, then turned and left.

Roxas was left speechless. It was one thing for Hayner to be pissed at him—it was actually a fairly regular occurrence—but Olette? Sensible, sweet Olette? He didn't understand.

"It's because of me." Sora spoke from his side and Roxas turned to look at the other boy, brain straining as he tried to draw the connection.

"Sora, what are you talking about?" he signed. "Even Olette said that this doesn't have anything to do with you."

"That's not what she said," Sora corrected, looking up at him with frustrated eyes. "She said it's not really my fault, but I'm in the middle of it, and she's right. Think about it Roxas. Think about what she said."

Roxas paused, thinking back to the short conversation. She wanted him to think about his relationship with Hayner and Pence and herself. They were friends. They had been friends since forever. That hadn't changed. He still cared about them all like family, spent perpetually all of his time with them…

…or at least he used to.

Thinking over the past weeks, he realized that he had seen less and less of Hayner, Pence and Olette. They still hung-out during lunch and, for Hayner, they still worked together during blitz practice, but other than that, most of his time lately had been occupied by Sora or Axel or both. How had he not realized it before?

"Y'see," Sora said when he saw the understanding dawn on Roxas' face. "You were so busy taking care of me that you practically forgot about them."

"I am such an idiot," Roxas groaned into his sleeping bag, falling face first into the built in pillow. No wonder Hayner was pissed at both of them. Friends were incredibly important to Hayner and, he thought that Sora was stealing his best friend and that Roxas was letting him.

"So you're gonna talk to him right?" Sora asked. "I don't even care if you tell him everything that's been going on. I just don't want to be the cause of—"

"It's not your fault, Sora," Roxas told the brunet again sighing. "You may be at the heart of it, but Hayner should have said something before and I shouldn't have blown them all off. It'll be cool. I'll straighten it out."

Roxas sighed thinking about how epic Hayner's temper could be when he felt like being difficult. He really hoped that things wouldn't get any more complicated than they already were.

-:- -:- -:-

The dancers set off directly after breakfast taking three different boats to three different islands where they would find the materials they would need for their individual performances. Sora was anxious as he boarded looking between Roxas and Hayner, who were yet to be on speaking terms, but his anxiety immediately melted when he saw who was waiting on deck as they boarded the boat. Both Cloud and Leon were there, supervising students as they stepped down from the dock. Ms. Gainsborough was further on, helping Mowgli direct students where to place supplies, and with a slight surge of something positive, he spotted silver hair amongst the others.

"Riku!" he called and smiled when the other boy looked back at him, hair blowing gently in the sea breeze. Sora made his way to where Riku was only to be tackled by a mass of gangling bright red. "Axel," he groaned with less enthusiasm.

"Nice job Axel," Riku quipped from his place checking through a storage compartment of some kind. "Kill the Freshies before we're even officially in charge of them."

"Hey, butt out, Reeks," Axel shot back. "I need to talk Spike here for a second."

"Spike?" Sora asked, confused as he picked himself up from the deck.

"He's named you," Riku called in reply. "It means he loves you."

"Oh don't be jealous Ricky, I still love you, too!" Axel was then draping himself over Sora's shoulders, pulling him to the boat's starboard railing. "I just wanted to ask what's going on with Rox and Hayner. I couldn't help notice the daggers being tossed around by eye around here."

"Uh," Sora shifted uncomfortably, "I'm not sure it's my place to say. Wouldn't you do better asking Roxas?"

"Well, I would," Axel said, "but I get the distinct impression that me stealing him away right now would not exactly help the situation."

Sora turned and saw that Roxas was in the process of trying to get Hayner's attention, though the other blond seemed set on continuing to ignore him.

"Yeah, you're probably right about that," Sora commented. "But I think it's gonna be fine. Just let them work it out and then he can tell you himself." Sora smiled at Axel, and the other boy raised an eyebrow at him.

"You're being awfully tightlipped about this," he said.

"I just try not to tell business that's not mine to tell." Sora shrugged and Axel gave a wolfish grin.

"Whatever kid," he drawled, then turned from Sora suddenly. "Riku, he's all yours!"

Sora looked up surprised and saw a similar look on Riku's face when he met the aquamarine eyes. Both boys' expressions quickly melted to somewhat awkward grins as Riku walked away from Wakka and the others he had been speaking with to stand beside Sora.

"What was that supposed to mean?" Sora asked chuckling as he leaned back against the railing.

"Haven't a clue," Riku smirked, leaning forward onto the same rail so that his arm just barely brushed against Sora's skin.

Sora felt his face warm slightly as he stood there beside Riku in the sun and humidity, and his grin grew a little wider. The engine on the boat started with a loud roar. A ripple of excitement flashed through the students on board with the sound, and after a moment, the boat started to move away from the small dock. The contact between their skin didn't break for the entirety of the trip.

-:- -:- -:-

"Son of a— SHIT!" Riku's screamed suddenly, flailing and smacking at his arms and face as he scurried down the tree he had been climbing.

"You ok over there?" Sora asked with barely stifled snickers. Riku shot him a baleful glare, returning to the path without his prize. He was just glad that none of the others had been around to see that special little moment.

Sora and Riku were currently alone, questing for materials in the section of the small island they had been assigned to. After landing on the island, they had been broken into groups each assigned with the collection of specific materials that were to be brought back to their campsite by lunchtime so that they could get to work. There were several groups combing the island, but the two boys had been separated from the others at some point in their quest for two fish, rope, three mushrooms, a couple of logs, fresh water, a seagull egg, some coconuts, and most importantly, Paopu fruit.

As a whole, the list was rather annoying, but it was the last item that would cause them the most trouble. Paopu fruit were very rare and very special to the people of the islands. There were many Paopu trees throughout all of the Destiny Islands, but they only occasionally bore fruit. There was a legend about the star-shaped fruit that had many tourists searching, hoping to get their hands on one to share with a lover so that their "destinies would be forever intertwined," but few if any were successful at it. There was another legend that said the fruit would only reveal itself to one of its own, and there was little concern that a native would plunder a Paopu on a flight of fancy. Anyone who grew up on the islands knew to respect the fruit, if not out of respect for the culture surrounding it, then because they knew that they would be ousted from the island community for showing such disrespect.

The fruit was a symbol of their people. Its thick skin and resilience represented their people's perseverance and continued existence. It is said that the fruit and people were directly connected and that should the Paopuan people ever fall completely, the fruit, too, would go extinct. Indeed, it wasn't difficult to believe such a thing, as the fruit did seem to decline as the natives did as well.

It was tradition for the students, before the Demonstration, to prepare a special dish, using all parts of the fruit, to reaffirm their unity and kinship before setting out to recreate their past. People believed that to do so connected them to their ancestors; that they would then be working hand-in-hand with the old ones as they prepared to breathe new life into their culture. Only one or two Paopu fruits would be needed for their island, and other students on the big island and other small islands as well would be on the look out for their own. That night, they would all share in the unity of consuming Paopu.

"Well, as I'm sure you figured," Riku said, avoiding Sora's eyes as he gave himself one final brush down, "That one was a bust, too. There's gotta be one Paopu tree on this island somewhere that's got fruit on it."

He did his best to let the previous incident slide, but from the way Sora was watching him, Riku was sure that it wasn't going to work.

"So," Sora began conversationally as they broke from the tree line onto the white sands of a beach, "What was that back there?"

Riku walked further ahead, noting the dilapidated wooden structures that were on this side of the island. It looked like an old Coastguard post or something.

"Rrrriku," Sora persisted, and Riku glared. Turning back to look a bit more at the abandoned area, he muttered something under his breath, hoping Sora would get the point that he didn't want to talk about it.

"Sorry, I missed that," the brunet pressed, and Riku rolled his eyes, turning back to face Sora with an exasperated sigh.

"There were spiders, okay?" he growled, fighting back the embarrassed blush that wanted to break out across his cheeks. "Fat ugly spiders, and webs, and I don't like them very much. Happy now?"

Riku eyed Sora who was eyeing him in return, an unreadable look on the brunet's face.

"Hey, isn't that a Paopu tree over there?" Sora asked in a speedy subject change, and Riku turned in surprise, following the direction indicated. Just beyond one of the wooden shacks on the island, there was a small bridge leading to an even smaller island, if it could even be called that. It was maybe 20 meters in diameter at its widest section, and on it was only some shrubs, a couple of palm trees, and another, older looking tree.

Its trunk was bent at an odd angle as if storm after storm had tried to blow it down. Still, the tree remained. Through all of the wind and rain, the tree had gracefully bowed so that it was almost parallel to the ground, crown hanging precariously over the edge of the island, but its roots still held firmly, grounded and unmovable. A Paopu indeed.

"Race you!" Sora suddenly shouted, dashing forward without warning, and Riku stared after him for only a moment in shock before following in hot pursuit. As if he would let Sora's scrawny butt beat him in a foot race.

They ran past a waterfall and down a small drop to reach the shack that looked like it would lead them to the bridge. Riku had caught up to Sora by the time they pulled the rickety door of the old shack open and began dashing up the stairs with no regard to whether or not they would support the boys' combined weight. The two burst back out into sunlight, neck and neck, and by now, both of them were laughing like 5-year-olds. Riku pressed the height advantage of his longer legs, but somehow Sora still managed to keep up with him. The little brunet was even getting a lead on him as they crossed the bridge, reaching out a hand in preparation to tag the tree.

Now that just wouldn't do.

Riku dove at Sora just before his hand would have touched, sending both of them rolling and tumbling in the sand, still laughing like loons. It felt reallygood. Riku couldn't remember the last time he had laughed like this.

There was a sudden weight, and 'oof' of released air, and then he found himself frozen, trapped in an ocean of blue.

"Way to be a sore loser," Sora told him from his place relaxing comfortably on crossed arms that happened to be settled on Riku's chest.

This was not something that the older boy was prepared to deal with. He had never been so close to Sora before. Their faces were literally inches apart. Riku could feel each small puff of warm breath against his chin, make out the minor blemishes of adolescence that peppered Sora's caramel skin, and never before had he had such a view of those cerulean eyes. The closest he'd come to this was that day in the tank when Sora had almost died, but that was nothing like this. This was seeing truly into the smaller boy's soul. This was shared gazing as opposed to the desperate terror from before.

This… was Sora…

…and Riku didn't have a clue what to do. His mind had gone completely blank in the face of Sora's proximity. All he could do was stare, breathe…swallow once or twice. And then Sora was smiling at him, and Riku was dazzled by the full force of that bright smile at point blank range.

"C'mon," Sora said, pushing himself up from Riku's chest. "You've gotta go grab those Paopu."

"Wh-what?" It took a moment for Riku's brain to reengage after having Sora's body pressed to his, but he caught the other boy's words well enough. When had Sora had the chance to spot the fruit anyway? "Me? Why can't you get them?"

"Because I'm not the one who's never gotten one before," Sora explained easily. "My dad took me a couple of times during the Harvest Festival when he was in charge of finding the fruit. He always told me that it was best for the young to retrieve Paopu, because the tree will fight those with clouded hearts."

"And that's supposed to make me feel better?" Riku asked eyeing the crown of the tree where it hung over the side of the island above the water. He swore he could already see the delicate latticework of spider webs in the foliage.

"No," Sora said, flashing that bright smile again. "It's supposed to give you purpose. Be confident, be bold, and you shouldn't have a problem."

Riku eyed Sora one last time before eyeing the tree again. Nestled safely in the leaves, he could see three bright yellow stars. They were right there, almost taunting him with how easily in range they seemed to be.

"Fine," Riku said, firming his resolve. "But if I fall, I'm coming back up here to drag you into the water with me."

"You'd have to catch me first," Sora teased as Riku climbed up onto the trunk of the tree.

Things were steady at the base, the tree not even acknowledging the fact that there was a hundred and thirty pounds of teenage boy walking along it, but as he neared the narrower part of the trunk, he began to get a little nervous. He wasn't worried about the tree breaking, but he really had no desire to go for an impromptu swim. Bending carefully at the knee, he settled down to straddle the trunk, scooting forward a bit and then reaching out to grab the first fruit. He gave it a sharp tug, but to his great irritation, the yellow star fruit stayed firmly in place.

Scooting forward a little more to get a better grip on the fruit, Riku reached a little further into the tree, grabbing the fruit at where it was connected to its stem. With a grunt of effort, he pulled again, and this time, thankfully, the fruit gave and came away in his hand.

"Hey, Sora," he called over his shoulder, twisting to grin at his friend. "I got one. Catch!" He tossed the first Paopu to Sora for safekeeping.

"Awesome, grab one more and we should be good!"

Riku had already turned back to decide on which of the two remaining fruit he would go for next but was eyeing them both with trepidation. In order to get to either of the other fruits, he would have to put his hand through a couple of webs that had been built over them. That was not something high on his list of things he wanted to do.

Wishing he had brought something like a stick to clear the webs away, he took a deep breath, steeled his nerves and reached a hand out to clear the webs away. He shuddered at the unsettling, not-quite-there feeling of web clinging to his skin, but he had his objective; one more Paopu for everyone back at camp. He could do this. It wasn't a difficult feat to accomplish.

His hand came in contact with the waxy skin, and he grabbed it, anticipating another struggle, but to his surprise, the fruit came away from the tree as if it were a gift freely given. Riku pulled his prize to himself turning to smile back at Sora in triumph. That's when he felt it; the subtle shifting of creeping legs on his skin. He looked down to see a large, black and yellow spider scurrying across his arm.

Riku reacted without thought. The arm attached to the hand holding the Paopu flailed out in panic, his other hand coming to swipe at the place where the spider had been. All of this caused the trunk of the Paopu tree to sway wildly, upsetting Riku's already precarious balance. Before he realized what was happening, the comforting security of the trunk beneath him vanished, and then there was only water.

-:- -:- -:-

"I don't see what's so freakin' funny," Riku groused at a still chortling Sora. After his rather graceless fall into the ocean, Sora had been there, moments later, diving in to make sure Riku was uninjured. Once the older boy's wellbeing was confirmed however, the laughter came, and it hadn't stopped for almost five minutes now.

"We still have to get the rest of the stuff off the list, y'know?" Riku continued, getting irritated. "You standing there laughing isn't gonna get us the rest of our supplies by lunch time."

Sora just chuckled a little more and wrung his shirt out over the edge of the island. "We've still got plenty of time," he said, and that stupid disarming smile of his made short work of Riku's irritation. "Let's rest a bit. Let our shirts dry out a little at least."

"Whatever," Riku huffed, joining Sora as he spread his shirt out over a bush in the sun. "This never would have happened if it weren't for that stupid spider."

"Hey, watch it," Sora said, shooting him a playful glare. "You should respect the spider and her web. They're said to be the children of—"

"Hikhi'ike, goddess of wisdom and community, I know I know." Riku waved a dismissive hand, wringing a little more water from his hair. "I'm all about Paopuan folklore, but that doesn't make spiders any less evil."

"And that's why they're gonna keep bothering you." Sora leaned comfortably against the trunk of the Paopu as he said this. "I was brought up to believe in that 'folklore', as you call it," he said allowing a small smirk to touch his lips. "We respect the Old Tales and the islands respect us in return. For our people, they're not just stories, they're our history; what makes us who we are."

Riku paused in his wringing, looking up at Sora and noting the slightly mocking look on his face. "Well, yeah I get that," he said a little defensively. It wasn't like he didn't know about the legends that were passed on throughout their culture. "But they're still just stories, Sora. There was no real goddess who came down and literally weaved people's hearts together to build the Paopuan community. Shooting stars are not the tears of some god stuck out on the moon. No one believes in stuff like that anymore. Next you're gonna tell me that there really is a Santa Claus and that he's best friends with the Tooth Fairy."

Sora's amusement only seemed to grow at that, and Riku felt his irritation coming back. He did not feel like standing there, dripping wet, debating the reality or non-reality of native mythology. He'd studied up on it for years now. That was what half the time in culture school was spent doing, but that didn't mean that he had to believe in these gods and goddesses, and if Sora was going to try and convince him otherwise, then this would turn into a huge point of dissention between them.

"Y'know, I'm gonna go look for some of the other stuff we need," he said, grabbing his shirt and tossing it over a shoulder. "Come find me when you're ready to help."

"Woah!" Sora was in front of him suddenly, a look of mild panic and confusion on his features. "What did I do? You're not mad at me are you?"

"Not mad, but a little irritated, yeah," Riku admitted. "We don't have time for your little fairy tales right now, Sora. We're supposed to be working."

"Fairy tales?!" Now it was Sora's turn to look irritated. "Would you call them that in front of Mowgli, or Wakka, or any of the other's who were born here and raised on my 'fairy tales'?"

"I'm not in the mood right now," Riku growled through clenched teeth, walking around the smaller boy. He was starting to regret allowing the rest of the group to wander off and leave them alone. "Stop trying to foist your beliefs off on me," he called over his shoulder, walking briskly towards the bridge.

"Riku, stop."

It was the complete change in Sora's tone that caught his attention and caused Riku to turn and look at the younger boy. The irritation was gone, so was the panic and confusion. In its place was frustration that seemed to be focusing inward, and what looked like an almost forced self-control.

"This is stupid," Sora said, eyes imploring him to listen. "We're both blowing this completely out of proportion and it's all just a big misunderstanding. I'm not trying to foist anything off on you, I just… I just want you to understand. Will you at least hear me out?"

Riku hesitated a moment before nodding, but when he did, it seemed like the sudden tension in the air between them evaporated as Sora visibly relaxed.

"Alright," Sora said jogging lightly over to the Paopu tree and jumping up to sit on it. "Come sit with me." He beckoned with both of his hands and Riku found himself reluctantly moving to comply. Sora scooted back further onto the tree to make space, crossing his legs on top of the trunk as he turned to face Riku fully.

"So, I'm sorry, ok," he began, watching as Riku spread his shirt beside him and settled himself on the trunk. "I didn't mean to come off as condescending or anything like that. I just get the feeling that you missed a lot of important things in the stories."

Riku rolled his eyes a little, but continued listening.

"You're right about all the gods and stuff," Sora continued, fiddling with the loose strands on his jean cut-offs as he spoke. "No one really believes in that anymore, but the stories are still taught anyway. My dad always told me that our oral tradition is one of the most important elements of keeping our culture alive. In the end, it's not so much about believing in the deities or anything. It's more about seeing what we can learn from the Old Tales."

He looked up at Riku then, eyeing him carefully. "How much time have you spent learning the stories?" He asked, and Riku averted his gaze awkwardly. The truth was that half the time they were supposed to be listening to Mowgli or one of their other instructors talk about the gods and whatnot, he, Axel and Wakka would be quietly goofing off and not paying attention. Axel and Wakka both had grown up on the island and already knew the stories. It wasn't Riku's fault that they were his friends and got easily bored during their weekend class sometimes.

"Well, I've read up on them a lot," he said. It was not a lie. The internet had a wealth of information on the Paopuan deities and Riku often had to do last minute research for the occasional test they had. "And we had to learn about all of the gods and their stories during Paopu School, so I know enough I guess."

"Tell me about one, the way you learned it," the brunet requested. "Tell me the one you motioned before; the one about shooting stars."

Riku looked at him a little awkwardly confused as to where this was going, but he settled a bit more comfortably on the trunk as he tried to pull up what he remembered of the story. Only Sora could make him jump moods this quickly. Not five minutes ago he had been ready to ditch the kid altogether, but now here he was, prepping his mind for story time.

"Well, I think I might have missed the day when we went into detail on this one, but I'm pretty sure I remember it all," he began slowly. "I looked up some of this online too," he admitted, but Sora just nodded encouragement. "Anyway. It's the story of the god of stars and hope, Ho'kuo'lani, and the god of night and shadow, Ka'hiana'khuli. The first thing Mowgli drilled into us when I started classes was the pantheon of gods so at least I know them all by name. If I remember correctly, it's the story of the birth of night.

"A long time ago, when the world was new, there was no night, only everlasting day. The goddess of the sun, Lakhi'ola, ruled the heavens and the people of the earth basked in her light.

One day, the god Ka'hiana'kuli, known also as The Seeker, got bored of the unending light. He figured that there had to be more to the heavens and the world than the sunshine and happy faces everyone was sporting all the time.

"The Seeker set out into the heavens looking for evidence of something more. He traveled far until he reached a place he had never seen before and in this place he found a door. Since he was stupid and didn't know any better, he reached out and opened the door. Darkness flooded out of it blinding Ka'hiana'khuli and flooding the heavens, blocking out the light.

"The Sun Goddess did her best to keep the darkness from touching the world, but if the door stayed open, she wouldn't be able to stop it for long. Her son, Ho'kuo'lani, a lesser god of light, went out to find the Seeker and try to fix the mess he made. He found the open door as well as the blinded Seeker, floundering around in the darkness. He guided the other god to the door and together, they closed it, but it was already too late. Darkness had flooded the sky creaking the first night.

"The Sun goddess did her best to fend off the darkness but she could only do it for half of the day. For the other half, darkness reigned. As a punishment, Ka'hiana'khuli had to remain in the darkness he released for all eternity, guarding the door so that no one else could come and make the same dumbass mistake. Her son, the little god of light, decided to stay as a guard to ensure that the Seeker never left his post.

"Together, they are the moon Ho'kuo'lani's light and Ka'hiana'khuli's darkness bound forever in an unending cycle. The stars are the Light God's reminder that he lives on within the darkness, and shooting stars are the tears he sheds for all that he lost and the loss of eternal light to the world." Riku looked up when he finished, rather proud that he had managed to remember the whole thing. The look on Sora's face had his pride promptly evaporating in the light of the late morning sun.

"What kaho fed you that load of bull?" Sora blurted, a look of genuine distress on his face. "I mean, that was the gist of the story, yeah, but all of the meaning is completely lost. Ho'kuo'lani, some angsty teenager crying emo tears because he misses his mommy?" his frown deepened. "Ka'hiana'khuli some loser who broke everything because he was bored?" Apparently it was too much for the younger boy because he fell sideways, completely off of the trunk of the tree.

"Sora?" Riku called back alarmed. "You ok?" Riku yelped when a hand suddenly shot up and pulled him backwards off of the tree. He found himself laying in the shadow of the Paopu next to Sora on the soft white sand of the island.

"I'm fine," Sora told him, and Riku looked over to see an odd smile on the other boy's face. "I understand now," he sighed. "No wonder you don't take the stories seriously. The way you learned them was all screwed up."

Riku watched Sora as they lay there together. There was something…older about him suddenly. His eyes seemed lost in the past, and the light and energy that always seemed to radiate off of him was muted somehow; still there, but calmer, quieter. It was a face of Sora that Riku had never before seen.

"My dad used to tell me the old stories when I was little," he began speaking without warning, and Riku got the sense that his thoughts were far away from where they were. "His mother had told him, and since my mom didn't know them, he wanted to make sure that he passed them on to me. What you read is basically true, but there are some very important differences in the way that the story was taught to me."

Riku felt Sora's soft-spoken words weaving around him, drawing him into the story in a way that he had never experienced before. For once, he wanted to hear about these gods. What was it about them that would bring on such a change in the boy laying beside him?

"Ka'hinan'khuli, the Seeking God, did go out to find something more, but it wasn't out of boredom or selfishness. It was because our people were dying. He was charged by his father, Ke'aiha, god of the land, to seek out something that could save us; something to bring balance to the world.

"Knowing that his father would know of any such power in the land, Ka'hiana'kuli sought a solution in the heavens. And so, he found the door to darkness and opened it. The darkness flooded out balancing the light, but the Seeker knew that too much darkness would destroy the world the same as too much light, so he tried to close the door again, but the darkness was too strong. He couldn't do it alone.

"Now here's where things are a bit disputed. Ho'kuo'lani is the son of the Sun Goddess, and he did go after the Seeker, but some say he went because they were best friends, others say because they were lovers. My father told me he thought it was probably both, but either way, he sought him out of love.

Sora sent Riku a significant look at this point before continuing.

"When the Light God got to the door, The Seeker was still struggling to close it. Even together they couldn't get it to budge. Realizing what had to be done, Ka'hiana'khuli entered the door to darkness and began pulling it closed from the inside. Ho'kuo'lani begged him not to, but it was the only way to stop the darkness.

"Y'see, Ka'hiana'kuli sacrificed himself to keep the world safe, and Ho'kuo'lani out of love for him chose to stay at the door, protecting the world from darkness until the day came that he find a way to release his lover again. The moon is the door where the two remain, the stars are Ho'kuo'lani's light, a reminder that even in the deepest darkness, there is still a light that shines, and shooting stars are his tears, shed for the love that he lost and the sacrifice the Seeker made for the world."

The two boys lay in silence for a moment after Sora finished his version of the story, a strange tightness growing in Riku's chest.

"It's a story about balance," Sora spoke into the hush, "sacrifice, hope, and above all else, love. Do you see what I mean, now? About learning from them?"

Riku nodded mutely, staring up at the sky as he tried to control the emotion that was blossoming within him. "I think this was what she wanted," he choked out through a constricted throat, not even sure why he spoke the words aloud.

"Who?" Sora asked gently, as if he knew that this was a very delicate moment.

"My mom." Riku was horrified to find that he was fighting back tears. He had never spoken of his mother this way to anyone outside of his family. Not to Axel, not to Wakka, and they were the only ones he had ever even considered sharing this with.

"That's why we all ended up here, y'know?" he continued in a carefully controlled voice. "When she was younger, she had left the islands looking for a more exciting life one the outside… but then she got sick. By the end… I think she began to regret leaving. She started talking about all the places she wished she could show us; all the things she wanted us to learn; how she didn't want us all growing up cold because of the city and the lives we led there.

"After she died, dad just dropped everything and moved us here. I think he was trying to grant her last wish…trying to offer us some kind of normalcy I guess, but none of us really understood what she had wanted. Listening to you just now… I think…I think maybe I get it. I think maybe all this time, I've been searching, but I've been sabotaging myself by shutting everything else out."

Silence fell between the two again, neither boy wanting to break the mood as the sound of calling gulls and roaring waves surrounded them. A sea breeze blew in, rustling the leaves of the trees around them, picking up stray grains of sand that pelted gently at their bare chests.

"Y'know," Sora began at length, still speaking quietly, "the two gods from that story… they're our family namesakes."

"What?" Riku murmured blinking slowly at Sora, confused.

"Holani is a derivative of Ho'kuo'lani, and Anakhuli is a derivative of Ka'hiana'khuli," Sora explained. "If one were to believe the Old Tales, our families' paths were destined to cross again one day."

Riku blinked slowly again before speaking.

"Do you believe the Old Tales?" he asked, and watched as Sora rolled his head to the side to meet his gaze.

"Yeah," the brunet replied quietly. "I think I do."

A smile like the dawn broke slowly across the younger boy's face, and Riku could tell that this moment was special somehow. Something was changing between them. It wasn't every day that one could identify the exact moment when their relationship with another became something different… something more. Perhaps it was this that gave Riku the courage to ask a question that had been bothering him ever since he'd taken Sora to the hospital that night with Axel and Roxas.

"Sora, where's your mom?"

The light in the blue eyes faded quickly, and Sora turned to look up at the sky again.

"She's sick," he answered simply. "After my dad died, she got sick and had to go away." In the strange bubble world that had grown around them somehow, Riku was able to plainly see the hurt and loneliness that Sora fought so hard to conceal on a daily basis as he spoke of his mother.

"She's getting better though," he continued. "I know she is. She'll be coming home soon."

There was a desperate need to the words, as if belief alone would make them true, and Riku had no clue what to do in the face of such deep-rooted pain. He did know, however, in that moment, that he would do anything he could to give Sora a reason to smile. The boy spent too much time concerning himself over others, Riku realized. He hid his pain so that others wouldn't have to deal with it, and as altruistic as that was, it was about time someone started concerning themselves over him in return.

"Hey, Sora," Riku began, and the Sora he was used to was instantly back in place. They both allowed the bubble to slip away, knowing that they would have to get back to the rest of the world eventually. "You have any idea where we're supposed to find rope on a tropical island?"

Sora's smile was back, and Riku's followed shortly after. Both boys leapt up, pulling on still damp shirts and setting off to finish exploring the little island. They carried a Paopu each, and though they didn't share in eating a fruit together, it seemed to them that their hearts had never been more strongly connected to anyone else before.

-:- -:- -:-

**A/N:**

Well…they still aren't together yet, but it's right on the horizon. Yays for that. I hope I didn't go overboard with the mythology, but I really enjoyed writing the story of the two gods who are Riku and Sora's namesakes. Parallels to the game? No way! No clue what you're talking about. And for those who don't know, Mowgli in Disney's live action Jungle Book is portrayed by the same guy who does David's voice in Lilo and Stitch…just an FYI.

Anyway, in case you care:

**Paopuan Deities:**

Ho'kuo'lani – (Bright Star of the Heavens) God of stars and hope (Sora's family namesake; Holani means heavenly star)

Hikhi'ike – (Bringing Knowledge) Goddess of wisdom and community. Spiders are the children of Hikhi'ike

Ka'hiana'khuli – (Striving for Power from Afar) The Seeking god; Lord of night and shadow

Lakhi'ola – (Sun of Life) Goddess of Light; The Sun

Ke'aiha – (The Land) God of the land

**Paopuan Terminology:**

Ahi'kuha – The Fire Dance

Kaho – mildly derogatory term for an uneducated outsider. Used often to describe tourists who don't know anything about the islands' culture.

I don't know if I mentioned it before (I think I did) but this language is based generally off of a combination of Japanese and Hawaiian. Basic guide to pronunciation is well…use of modified vowel sounds. A ah; Eeh; Iee; Ooh; Uoo. Consonant sounds are the same.


	12. Ch 10: Shifting Relations

**Standard Disclaimer:** If I draw them all enough, maybe one day they'll be mine…but I'm not holding my breath.

**Notes: **Transitions, transitions…and more transitions…still, stuff happens. **Lokotei**! My beta of love and happiness!

**Warnings:** Gratuitous use of Disney and Square characters, language, at least one homosexual relationship, bigoted ass-holes, semi non-con encounters, made-up culture and language, lots of Blitzball, and general teen awkwardness. Enjoy!

-:-finem-:-

**Life on the Blitz**

**Chapter 10: **

**Shifting Relations**

"Damn it, Hayner! Would you stop acting like a child and talk to me?! Believe it or not I'm actually trying to apologize, but now you're really just starting to piss me off!"

"Oh, _I'm _pissing _you_ off! Right, because I'm totally the one who ditched his friends, without a second thought, for some kid I barely know."

"What the hell?! Since when is Sora 'some kid I barely know.'? He's a friend, Hayner. _Our_ friend. And even if he wasn't, since when am I not allowed to have other friends beyond you, Pence, and Olette!? Tidus is a new friend, too. Are you gonna be riding on him next?"

Sora sat at Riku's side, helping him stitch together the layers of leaves for his Fire Dance skirt. It would take the rest of the week for the leaves to be dried and for the flame retardant paoupu wax treatment to set, but first, they had to get the thing put together. They sat around the fire pit with Axel, Pence, Tidus and several other students, surrounded by varied conversations as they pretended that they couldn't hear the heated discussion taking place just beyond the trees at the edge of their camp site.

"_Tidus_ isn't turning you _queer_! Don't think I haven't noticed what's going on between you and Axel. You would've decked him a year ago if he tried any of that shit with you, but now all of a sudden, you're into guys?! I _dare_ you to tell me that your new best friend had nothing to do with that."

Sora's hand paused halfway through a stitch, and he saw both Riku and Axel visibly tense out the corner of his eye. Axel looked like he was ready to end the conversation right then and there, but Sora shook his head.

"Let them work it out," he murmured returning to his work. He didn't miss the exchange of worried glances all around.

It was strange how it seemed that everyone else was oblivious to the argument. Maybe it was because the others didn't understand what was on the brink of ending. Maybe it was because none of the others were as close to Hayner and Roxas as the ones who sat around in silence, working and listening.

"Leave Sora out of this, Hayner. This has nothing to do with him."

"Doesn't it?" There was a strained quality to Hayner's voice that Sora had never heard in him before. "Clueless fuckin' dumbass Sora shows up and suddenly I don't even exist anymore!"

"Hayner, you're being an ass. You don't mean any of that."

"_Don't I?__!"_ The words were screamed loudly enough to have everyone's attention by now and Sora saw Mowgli and Leon, who were in charge of their camp, look up from their own quiet conversation in concern.

"_Even now you're still defending him instead of trying to fix things between us!"_

"_If you would stop being such a dick about this then maybe I wouldn't have to defend him!"_

"_FUCK YOU, ROXAS!" _Both instructors were now on their feet. _"Keep __the__ faggot! See if I care! I hate both of you!"_

Sora froze, staring down at the leaves in his lap. He could feel the eyes of everyone in their camp on him. It felt like a thousand needles stabbing steadily into his face, and it was all just too much. He heard both Mowgli and Leon's raised voices as they went to see what was happening between the boys beyond the tree line. He heard his friends calling after him, but he ignored it all. He needed air. He needed space. He needed some place quiet where he could think.

Without knowing where he was heading, without caring that it was late evening in the middle of a tropical forest, Sora ran. He ran without thinking, pushing through underbrush even as it threatened to trip him as he went. He kept going, running and running and hoping to outdistance the pain that seemed to be dogging his every step.

-:- -:- -:-

Riku found Sora at the island.

He wasn't shocked. Somehow the silver-haired teen had known that he would find his friend at the stretch of beach they'd discovered earlier that day. The place was special now. A place of comfort; a world unto itself.

He didn't try to hide the sound of his foot falls as he crossed the bridge, and Riku couldn't help but smile at the sight of Sora, splayed out on the Paopu, back pressed against the bark. His head was lower than his feet and his legs straddled the narrowing trunk, but his eyes were focused on the starts above him, face completely void of expression.

"I figured you'd find your way back here," Riku said leaning against the tree near Sora's head.

The brunet made a noncommittal sound and continued staring at the sky.

"That was really shitty what Hayner said back there," Riku tried again to get a response. "You alright? You wanna talk about it?" The night remained silent for a while, the sound of nocturnal insects and ocean waves offering a soothing soundtrack to the moment.

"It's always me," Sora said finally. His eyes never left the sky though his face did take on a contemplative frown. "I try not to do anything to hurt anyone, but for some reason, it feels like everything somehow ends up getting screwed up because of me. Bickson, Coach, Blitz, even you…and now this. I don't get it."

"It's not your fault people react the way they do to situations, Sora" Riku sighed. "You shouldn't blame yourself."

"I don't," Sora said shaking his head. "I know none of it's my fault, but still…for some reason, since this year began, it seems like things just keep getting more and more screwed, and somehow, I'm always involved."

Riku had no clue how he was supposed to respond to that so he opted not to. He waited silently for Sora to continue if he so chose, allowing the night-song to surround them again.

"Y'know it was never even an issue before," Sora said after a while. "The whole gay thing I mean. It never mattered one way or the other. It was commonplace once. Did you know that?"

Riku hummed a negative even though the question seemed rhetorical.

"It was normal for the great chiefs of the past to have one of their strongest warriors as a lover. It was the ultimate sign of loyalty and commitment; an honor to be chosen as a chief's _aikhane._

"My mom and dad never cared. I mean I was just a kid when they were still together, but there was never talk about sexuality in terms of normal or abnormal, positive or negative… My dad just told me the stories as they had been taught to him."

Silence lapsed between them again for a time before Sora spoke again.

"I don't get it, Riku. What's the big deal? If two people care about each other, why does it matter what package they're in? The most important thing is that their hearts be connected; right?"

"Unfortunately, not everyone sees it that way, Sora." Riku leaned a bit more against the trunk looking out across the moonlit water.

Sora sat up suddenly, calling Riku's attention to him. His position on the trunk of the tree put him eye to eye with Riku, and in the darkness, his eyes were black, swirling pools of endless emotion. The moonlight turned his skin to ivory and reflected tiny moons in his gaze, giving the smaller boy an altogether other worldly appearance.

"I think I like you, Riku," he said, frowning slightly as though he were puzzling over a difficult problem. "Do you think that's a bad thing?"

Riku was caught completely off guard by the blunt admission of feelings. This was definitely not the way he imagined any kind of confession would go.

"Uhhh…no. It's n-not a bad thing at all," he stammered. "I-it's probably a good thing, if anything, since I think I l-like you too."

Then there was soft, wet warmth covering his lips. It took him a moment to realize that Sora was actually kissing him. He was being kissed by Sora and it was Sora doing the kissing… By the time his brain got over the shock, it was already over.

"I don't know," Sora said, frown still creasing his brow. "I just don't know, Riku. All of this is so stupid." Sora climbed down from the tree and headed back across the bridge. Riku was left to stare after him, trying to figure out what had just happened.

-:- -:- -:-

Tension was high in the air on Sunday morning as the camp of Fire Dancers packed their things and prepared for the boat ride back to the main island so that they could all head home. Hayner was sporting a lovely shiner care of Roxas who apparently hadn't taken too kindly to the things the other boy had said the night before. Neither was acknowledging the other's existence. The Fire Dancers met up with their female counterparts from the Water Dance who had camped on a different part of the island. Pence was quick to fill Olette in on what had happened, and they both looked completely torn on what to do.

Roxas was standing with Axel, smiling and nodding occasionally to the things the older boy was saying in an attempt to distract and cheer him, but generally remaining quiet. The skin around his eyes was swollen and puffy and it didn't look like he'd gotten much sleep the previous night.

Sora stood next to Riku, passively observing it all. He felt oddly numb to everything. He watched as Yuna ran over to Tidus, excitedly showing him the stones she would be using to make water beads for her staff. Normally, seeing that would have brought a smile to his lips, but that morning, there was nothing. He looked at Axel and Roxas, saw the obvious closeness growing between them; looked to Pence and Olette where they were trying to talk to Hayner. He felt like there should have been a lot going on inside of him, but there was only emptiness, like maybe the destruction of his once secure circle of friends the night before had short-circuited his emotions somehow, leaving him completely blank.

Riku stood as silent support at his side, and for this Sora was eternally grateful. Neither had spoken of what had happened the night before, and that suited Sora just fine. He wasn't sure what he would say if Riku were to bring it up the kiss. Sora wasn't even sure why he had done it. Things had just gotten so complicated, and with the balance of his life so thrown off, he wasn't sure how to handle anything anymore.

"So I guess you heard everything last night, huh?"

Sora hadn't even noticed Axel and Roxas' approach and jumped slightly as he was pulled from his thoughts. He found his face falling back on old habits, a smile pulling automatically at his lips.

"Yeah, I did," Sora told him. "Talk about seriously awkward, right?"

"Wrong," Roxas snapped, anger becoming clear in his expression. "Hayner was completely out of line! That bastard will be lucky if I ever talk to him again."

Sora sighed, smile falling away as his shoulders slumped. "Roxas, you know he was probably just blowing off steam. You guys have been friends forever. Please don't throw that away on account of—"

"No, Sora!" Roxas cut in heatedly. "Don't you dare start pulling that martyr bullshit with me! He was wrong. That's the end of it, and until he apologizes to both you and Axel for the things he said, I won't have anything to say to him." Roxas stormed away with that leaving a stunned Sora behind. Axel gave Sora and Riku an awkward smile as he moved to follow the blond.

"That's our Roxy," he muttered. "Crazy little firecracker."

"Ignore them, Sora," Riku said from his side, doing his best to offer some form of comfort. "Roxas and Hayner are both just a little high strung. They'll be back to normal in no time!"

Just then Kairi and Namine came rushing over to them from out of the crowd, and Sora groaned inwardly, knowing what was coming.

"What the heck happened?!" Kairi asked, as predicted, worry on her face. Sora did his best to tune everything else out, allowing Riku to tell the story for him. He didn't feel like dealing with his friends' concern, didn't want to retell the story. He just wanted to go home.

-:- -:- -:-

The ride to the Highwind Apartments with Riku took place in silence. Both Roxas and Sora had offered to stay behind and help the culture school students clean, so they were able to take the last shuttle back to the school, avoiding the awkwardness of sharing space with Hayner and the others so soon after the big blow out.

"You've gotta cheer up Sora," Riku told him as they walked to Sora's apartment together. It was about 5pm and Riku still had some time before he needed to be home. "It's not like you to be this bummed."

"Yeah, I know," Sora said offering him a small smile. "I've just gotta let my brain cope with everything that happened. I should be good by tomorrow."

"Well then that's perfect," Riku said, quirking a smirk and twitching his eyebrows up slightly. "My brother's flying in tomorrow and I kinda wanted you to meet him. Well…him and my other brothers and my dad. They've actually been bugging me about it for a while."

Sora creased his brows. "You want me to meet your family?" he asked incredulously. "We've barely been official friends for a week!"

Riku eyed him oddly for a moment. "I'd like to think that the three months of casual acquaintanceship count for something."

"Half of which you hated my guts," Sora returned, not resisting the grin that pulled at his lips. "Besides, you know I have work on Mondays."

"Yeah, and I know that you deserve a break every once in a awhile." Riku mussed Sora's hair affectionately as he said this. "C'mon. You can get the time off if you really wanted to."

"And you really want me to?" Sora asked raising his eyebrows.

"You bet your cute little ass I do."

Sora snorted a laugh at this but nodded as he opened his apartment door. "Always the ass. Alright then," he said. "I'll figure it out."

There was an awkward moment at his door way when Riku sort of hovered. After considering for a shot moment, Sora raised his face and Riku dropped a soft kiss on his lips.

"I'll see you in the morning," Sora said, smiling slightly.

"As always," Riku told him, "if you're late, I'm leaving your ass."

-:- -:- -:-

Waking up on Monday sucked. Sora had kept his word and worked it out so that he could have the night off, but rather than request a replacement, he had simply traded shifts with Mrs. Packard, the older woman who worked Sunday nights. All things considered, it hadn't been a particularly difficult shift, but between the very long weekend and the limited amount of sleep he had gotten the night before, Sora was all but walking dead by the time his alarm went off the next day.

Of course Riku chose to make a smart-ass comment about it, and of course Sora could only manage a series of grunts in reply. Perhaps if Riku could have tapped into their shared Neanderthal roots he would have understood the scathing comeback, but since he couldn't and therefore didn't, Sora just proceeded to climb into the car and fall unconscious in the passenger seat until they got to school.

Homeroom and first period were…weird, to put it lightly. Things went as smoothly as could be expected, but Sora entered the room to find that Hayner had traded seats and was now at a desk in the first row, farthest column to the left. It was as far as possible from where Sora, Roxas and Tidus were seated.

Monday Nutrition meant that he had his visit with Leon. Sora was actually rather looking forward to it for a change. Anything to escape the perpetual awkwardness he now felt around the others.

"You doing alright after Saturday?" was the first thing that Leon asked when Sora settled in his seat, and Sora let out a long sigh.

"Honestly," he said, "I don't know. I'm not gonna pretend that part of me isn't pissed at Hayner for everything that he said, but there's another part of me that realizes that he wasn't really himself when he said it. I mean…I haven't known him as long as Roxas, but I still consider him one of my friends and I know he's not like that. I don't want to be mad at him. I don't want him to hate me. I just want everything to go back to the way it used to be between us!"

"You gonna fill me in on the details or do I have to guess." The older man asked.

Sora shook his head and began speaking. He told Leon everything, hoping that his counselor would be able to offer some insight into the situation the way he had before. Sora was completely at a loss. Having never had many friends to begin with, he'd never had to deal with anything like this before.

Leon watched him quietly for a moment before speaking. "I don't want you to take this the wrong way, so understand that I'm not blaming you."

Sora nodded, preparing himself as best he could for what was to come. Anything prefaced like that was likely going to be hard truth.

"You realize that a lot of this probably could have been avoided had you been honest with all of your friends from the beginning, right?"

Sora sighed heavily and nodded again. Leon definitely had a way of getting to the heart of the issue. If Sora had just told Hayner about his situation from the start, Roxas wouldn't have needed to keep secrets from his friend. Hayner wouldn't have felt like Roxas was shutting him out. In short, in some ways, this whole mess really was all Sora's fault.

"I told you I wasn't blaming you for this, Sora," Leon said, apparently reading the self-directed irritation on Sora's face. "I don't want you blaming yourself for it either. You made your choices for your own reasons, and no one can fault you for that. Everyone involved could have handled the situation differently. The question now is what you're planning to do to help make it better?"

"What _can_ I do?" Sora asked, frustrated. "Roxas wants me to stay out of it, and Hayner doesn't want anything to do with me."

"Have you tried talking to, Hayner?"

"No," Sora muttered, avoiding his counselor's eyes. Leon sat back in his chair, pressing his fingers together as he thought for a moment.

"I don't know everyone involved well enough to offer you anything solid," he began finally. "But consider this. If what you say is true, and the three of you really were friends at the beginning of the year, then Roxas isn't the only one at fault for negligence here. Put your self in Hayner's shoes. How would you feel if the tables were turned? The situation with Roxas is one thing, but you not saying anything about it makes it look like you don't care about what's happening between the three of you and never did."

Sora sat staring at Leon's desk for a while after his counselor stopped speaking. Leon was totally right. Somehow, in Sora's mind, this had become a problem between Roxas and Hayner only. It had never even occurred to him that part of Hayner's anger might be the fact that not only had Roxas abandoned him, but Sora had as well. With the added knowledge of how important friendships were to Hayner, it really was no wonder that the other boy was responding so badly. They had essentially stabbed him in the heart and ignored the fact that they had left him bleeding to death.

Sora thought back to the beginning of the year; to the weeks they spent together in Blitz Camp. The easy camaraderie, the constant encouragement, the way Hayner had welcomed him into his circle of friends without question. And what had Sora done in return? How had he repaid Hayner's friendship?

"God, I'm such an idiot," Sora said dropping his head to the desk and closing his eyes.

"You're only an idiot if you leave things as they are," Leon told him, pulling out a yellow form of some kind. "I was talking to Cloud yesterday after we got back. He's worried about you. It's been a while since you guys have worked out, right?"

Sora nodded slightly, still lost in his thoughts.

"He wanted me to tell you that he'll be doing a make-up swim lesson on Sunday if you want to swing by and get in a little work out."

Sora nodded again, still not looking up.

"So, you and Riku are looking pretty close lately."

That got Sora's attention. His head shot up and he felt his cheeks warming at Leon's bland expression.

"Y-yeah," he stammered, thoughts of Hayner temporarily pushed aside. "We are. That's good right?"

"I think it is," Leon said with the same flat look. "Just remember to use protection."

Leon quirked a smirk at what Sora imagined must have been a very interesting shade of red that had suddenly engulfed his entire head. The man said nothing more, just held the yellow form out to Sora.

"What's that?" Sora asked once he managed to tame his full body blush down to just his face.

"A pass for class," Leon told him. "The bell for 3rd period rang ten minutes ago.

"What?!" Sora looked up at the clock on the wall beside Leon's desk and saw with no small shock that Nutrition had indeed ended and he was late for Science.

"Oh crap! I hope Jim's not doing anything stupid without me!" he exclaimed, snatching up his bag. He grabbed the pass from his counselor's hand and rushed for the door but paused just before exiting.

Turning back, he offered heartfelt smile. "Thanks, Leon," he said. "I seriously don't know what I would have done this year without you."

"Whatever," Leon replied with a shrug, giving one of his rare affectionate smiles as he waved Sora out the door.

-:- -:- -:-

Hayner didn't show up at lunch to Sora's great dismay. He really wanted to have a chance to speak with his friend about everything that he had realized after his meeting with Leon. It shouldn't have been so shocking that Hayner wouldn't make things easy for him—this was Hayner, nothing was easy with him—but that didn't change the frustration that Sora was feeling or his mounting guilt.

"This is a nightmare!" he groaned, bouncing his forehead off of Riku's chest as there wasn't a handy wall available. "Why hasn't anyone told me that I'm a horrible person? All this time, I thought that I was doing good, but in the end, I'm just a back-stabbing, friend-stealing—"

"Sora, calm down," Riku said rolling his eyes. He pulled away and shoved a sandwich in the younger boy's hands. The "food for Sora" movement had grown since Riku understood the full extent of Sora's living situation. Now that it was a semi-regular thing for him to sit by the tropical tree with Sora's group of friends, it was easy for him to provide food for the brunet who was still painfully small for his age.

"You didn't get Nutrition this morning, right?" Riku asked, rapping a knuckle on Sora's head. "You haven't eaten anything all day. You're gonna kill the few brain cells you've got left pulling shit like that. You'll be able to think about it better once you eat."

"Never would have pegged you as the nurturing type, Riku" Tidus laughed from his usual root. "How is it that I've known you for years and never got to see this side of you?"

"I don't waste my time on losers, Mihana," Riku shot back with a cocky smirk. "Don't be jealous."

Sora threw his hands in the air, sitting on a root near Pence and Olette.

"This is not okay," he moaned. "We can't keep acting like it's fine that Hayner's gone. We're never gonna fix things at this rate. Where is Roxas anyway!?"

"He's with Axel and the others by the bleachers," Riku supplied. "I don't think he's gonna be cooling off about this anytime soon. And calm down, seriously. It's only Monday. Give it a couple of days at least. They'll get over it."

Sora groaned again, this time accepting the sandwich that was put into his hand. If friendship was this complicated, he wonder how anyone ever managed to make it work.

-:- -:- -:-

Sora had thought that awkward blitz practices were a thing of the past. He had been wrong. Hayner was very doggedly ignoring him despite his attempts to talk to the other boy, and with hostilities running as high between him and Roxas as they were, it was a wonder that the two didn't kill each other in the tank.

The good thing was that Clayton was so preoccupied with yelling at the two former best-friends that he left Sora mostly alone through practice. Coach had to reassign their defender pairing because the two of them completely refused to cooperate with each other anymore. David teamed up with Roxas while Hayner was paired with Abus, and it gave Sora some hope at least when he saw that Hayner still seemed to hold the same distaste for Bickson's former crony as he always did. This confirmed that he didn't really hate Sora or Roxas because otherwise, he would have joined the others in bashing them.

By the time practice came to an end, Sora was tense and tired and just ready to go home.

"Don't go wussin' out on me now, Holani," Riku said jokingly as they made their way out of the locker room. "You still owe me a few more hours."

Sora yawned big enough to make his jaw crack. "I don't think your brothers will be very impressed if I face plant into my plate at dinner."

"Clearly you don't know my bothers," Riku smirked. "They'd love you for it because they'd be able to hold that over both of our heads forever."

"I didn't need to dress special or anything did I?" Sora asked, feeling very suddenly uncomfortable. He'd been so distracted during the day that he hadn't really had the chance to think about his upcoming dinner with Riku's family. "I mean, you guys are pretty well off right? I don't need a dinner jacket or anything like that, do I?"

Riku snorted a laugh as he got into his jeep and pulled on his seat belt. "Another part of us coming to the islands was that we were supposed to have a 'normal upbringing', as if that's possible in my family. We actually take turns cooking and doing chores and stuff. It's a pain sometimes, but I think that's better than being rich and spoiled and not knowing the difference between sauce pan and a colander."

"You can cook?" Sora asked, interest immediately piqued.

Riku smirked over at him before answering. "Nothing gourmet, but I've been told I make a mean pancake and if I were ever left on my own, I wouldn't starve to death."

"That's awesome! You'll have to cook for me sometime."

"And what do I get if I do?" Riku asked, as they pulled out into traffic.

"I don't know. I'm sure I could think of something." It was a light tease and even lighter suggestion, but Sora felt his face warm slightly. He didn't miss the knowing smirk that Riku sent his way either.

Things with Riku were just so strange…in a good way. He'd never really flirted with anyone before—hadn't even realized that he knew how—but he found the urge irresistible around the older boy, and it gave him a light, happy feeling to know that his teases were welcomed and wanted.

Sora had never felt particularly attractive before, never really thought about his appearance or dating or anything like that. With Riku, though, things just felt different. He didn't know what to make of the new feelings that were swirling around inside of him, but most of all, he didn't know what to do about them. Real life wasn't like TV and movies where to two people fell into love and blissful happiness and stayed that way ever after. Real life was awkward and confusing. Even if he maybe wanted to try something more with Riku, even though he could almost feel the _something_ growing between them, Sora didn't have a clue what it meant to be in a relationship like that.

He was happy with things as they were. He wasn't sure that he wanted things to change between the two of them.

_We're fine like this,_ Sora thought, laughing and smiling and just enjoying Riku's presence as they made their way to the Anakhuli homestead. _All I ever wanted was to be his friend. If I can keep that much, it'll be enough._

-:- -:- -:-

By the time they reached Riku's home, the older boy seemed to be getting a little nervous himself.

"You'll be fine, Sora," he kept reassuring. "My brothers will probably tease you a little, but they won't really mean anything by it. Just, be cool. Be yourself. It'll be okay."

"You sound more worried about this than I am," Sora laughed, climbing from his side of the car.

"Yeah, I guess I am," the other boy returned. "Do you know that this is the first time I've brought friends over on my own? The first time Axel came here he sort of just followed me home and decided he and Wakka were going to visit. God, you're the first friend I've made on my own since we moved here. How pathetic is that?"

"It's not pathetic. It just means that I'm that special," Sora told him smiling.

Riku snorted as he reached out to open the door. "You're special alright. I thought we already established your short bus status. Guys, we're he—" Riku cut off mid word as he entered his house.

"Wow, that was eloquent," Sora teased coming up behind him. "What were you saying about me and _my_ short bus status?"

Sora followed Riku into the house, somehow losing his anxiety in the face of Riku's. Of course, as soon as he entered the place, all of his concern came rushing back.

"Guys, what are you doing?" Riku asked incredulously, and this gave Sora some relief as it meant that at least the sight that greeted him was apparently not business as usual.

There were three males waiting for them in the entry way, each with silver hair; obviously Riku's brothers. They had his same sculpted features, eyes a slightly greener-shade than Riku's turquoise. In these aspects they were completely as expected; it was their attire that had Sora stepping behind Riku in mild terror.

For some reason, all three were dressed in form fitting black leather body suits. The youngest-looking one's had legs that flared out at the bottom. He was lounging lazily in a recliner that was inexplicably located away from the rest of the living room furniture, and he was flanked by his other two brothers. All three had a distinct air of menace about them, eyeing Sora like cats who had just found a bird to play with. Was that a gun in one of their hands?

"Y-y'know Riku," Sora stammered, voice several pitches higher than usual, as he backed towards the door again, "on second thought, maybe I really should be heading home instead—"

"Bring him," the sitting brother commanded, and Sora squeaked as he found himself caught in the hands of the larger two.

"Kadaj! What the hell do you think you're doing?!?" Sora felt Riku make a grab for him, but with two older brothers intent on their quarry, the youngest Anakhuli didn't stand a chance.

"Don't worry, Riku," the sitting brother—apparently Kadaj—said as he raked his eyes over Sora appraisingly. "We won't hurt him…much."

Sora's eyebrows shot up at this statement and he made an attempt to struggle, but he was held fast. Riku had fallen silent behind him, and he wondered at whether or not the other boy would be able to help him against these three.

"So, you're Sora," Kadaj purred, standing from his seat and drawing a long blade from a sheath Sora hadn't seen before. A short burst of hysterical laughter bubbled from his throat as he struggled to get back to Riku.

"So, Riku," he called back nervously, heart pounding a staccato rhythm against his ribs, "you failed to mention that your brothers are completely insane!"

"Guys," Riku growled, but he was hushed by one of the brothers holding Sora's arms.

Kadaj chuckled darkly as he slowly began circling. He was shorter than both of his other brothers, only slightly taller than Riku. In fact, he didn't look like he was even out of his teens yet. How was it that he seemed to be the head of this outfit?

"I've heard a lot about you…" he commented lightly, stopping directly in front of Sora as his cat-like eyes studied the brunet's face. "Loz won't shut up about the boy Riku's apparently lusting after." Sora's face flamed at this, something Kadaj apparently found amusing. "Yazoo's mentioned that you actually had Riku upset with himself at some point," he brought the blade up, hilt first, running the wrapped wood down Sora's face causing Sora to break out in a thin sweat. "Yet oddly…I haven't heard much about you from Riku himself…now why do you think that is?"

Sora refrained from speaking, not sure how he was supposed to respond to the question. To be perfectly honest, Sora couldn't think about much beyond the long blade that was uncomfortably close to his person.

"I hear that my baby brother has been spending quite a lot of time with you," Kadaj continued.

"Guys, that's enough" Riku spoke up from somewhere in the background. The warning tone in his voice would have had anyone else backing down. "You're freaking him out."

"Tell me," Kadaj said, ignoring Riku completely. "What makes you think that you are worthy of befriending my brother?"

The question was strange and out of place enough to pull Sora's thoughts away from Kadaj's sword, which was still hovering between their two bodies. "Are you being serious?" he asked incredulously, and Kadaj leveled a glare at him that answered the question for him far more profoundly than words ever could. The threat of the blade was then very prominent in Sora's mind again, and with that, all ability to think clearly left him as well. He was left in a small staring contest with Kadaj, Sora confused and panicked, Kadaj a level threat.

The other male smirked at him mockingly after a while. "He's not exactly the brightest bulb on the line is he, Reeks?" He said, eyes shifting from Sora to find Riku.

"He's smart enough to know not to put up with ass-monkeys like you, Daj. You done torturing my friends yet? Smells like dinners almost ready."

Sora stared owlishly around as the hands that were holding him released and the room was filled with sudden chuckling from Riku's three brothers.

"I'm impressed," the one with the longest hair said walking past Sora wearing a calculating smile. "He didn't wet himself when we pulled out the weapons."

"He's a little runt, Reeks; even smaller than you said he was," the one with the shortest haircut said, Sora frowned as he was jabbed in the chest with one of the large man's fingers. "Loziel Anakhuli," he said sticking out a hand, which Sora awkwardly accepted. "Everyone calls me Loz. I'm the oldest. This is Yazoo," he gestured to the brother who had spoken before, "and you already met Kadaj. Ma was really into the New-Age city shit when she named us. Reeks lucked out. She was getting pretty nostalgic for these islands when she picked a name for him."

"Forgive the…creative welcome," Yazoo said leaning against Loz. "This is a first for Riku. We wanted to insure it would be memorable."

"Memorable?" Riku growled stepping over to Kadaj and yanking on a lock of his hair. "I haven't seen you in almost a year and this is what you pull? Way to be a douche, Kadaj."

"Oh, don't worry, Riku," Kadaj cooed pinching both of Riku's cheeks and squishing his younger brother's face between his hands, "I'm not gonna try to steal your little boyfriend. You know I only have eyes for you."

Riku smacked the other boy's hands away from his face, rolling his eyes as he strolled over to an utterly bemused Sora and directed him towards the door opposite the living room as the other three chuckled together behind them.

"Sora, I'm sorry my brothers are idiots," he muttered, but Sora caught the small smile pulling at his lips. "C'mon. I'll introduce you to my dad."

From the images of Sephiroth Sora had seen on television and in magazines, he had expected to find the man lounging comfortably at their dining table or something equally fitting of a business tycoon. The last thing he thought he would find upon entering the kitchen was the tall man standing over a baked lasagna, preparing to cut and serve it himself. He set his utensils aside when Riku and Sora entered the room.

"Dad, this is Sora," Riku said without preamble. "Sora, meet my dad."

Sora looked up, and up…and up at the silver haired man. He'd always known he was small for his age, but never had he felt so minuscule in his life. Sephiroth's mere presence was daunting enough, but his physical stature, the graceful way he moved his body, all of it added up to something so much more than Sora could ever even hope to be that it almost felt like he was shrinking standing there before Riku's father.

"Thank you for having me over, sir," Sora said politely, allowing good manners to compensate for any awkwardness in the moment. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

"And you as well," Sephiroth said accepting Sora's proffered hand. "I hope this is the first of many visits you will have in our home."

Sora smiled at this and shot a small glare at Riku who was playfully nudging his side.

"Would you boys bring the plates," Sephiroth requested as he flawlessly sectioned the lasagna with a knife, and Sora perked up at this. He hated receiving special treatment when he went to visit someone else's house, but here, he was already being asked to help out, just like he was one of the family.

"No prob," he called in response, deftly grabbing the stack of plates from the counter before Riku could get to them. Maybe this evening wouldn't be so bad after all.

-:- -:- -:-

"You seriously tried to eat _poop_ when you were a baby?!?"

"I thought it was chocolate…"

"But it was in the toilet!"

"I was like three years old. That barely counts as sentient!"

Sora was happily mocking Riku as they rode together after dinner to Sora's apartment.

"I can't believe it," Sora curled in his seat from laughing. "I let you kiss me with that mouth!"

"I'm gonna kill my brothers," Riku groaned pulling into a parking space on the street and getting out to walk in with his friend. After the rather interesting greeting his three older brothers had put together for Sora, the evening had actually gone pretty well. His brothers were relentless in their teasing but it was all in good fun, and Sora seemed to catch on to that pretty quickly. Riku had been really pleased with how things had turned out…that is of course until his brothers had started with the embarrassing stories from his childhood.

"And you're really still afraid of the dark?" Sora asked smiling up at him with such honest contentment that Riku had a hard time being bitter at his brother for letting that slip.

"I just don't like not being able to see what's around me," he admitted feeling Sora's good mood seep into him. "Why do you seem so pleased by all of this?"

"I don't know," Sora said, becoming pensive as they made their way down the hall that led to his room. "I've just never really had anything like this before." He stopped at his door pulling out his keys as he continued talking. "I mean, I know everything about Kairi, but we've been friends since forever. We practically grew up together. Heck, if it weren't for the fact that her adoptive parents are already struggling to keep their bills paid, I'd probably be living with her right now instead of here." He pushed his door open and Riku followed him inside this time.

"I've never really had a new friend to learn about and I never in a million years thought that I would get to learn all of this stuff bout you!" He plopped down on his couch causing a small poof of air to escape. "It's just cool I guess. Makes me glad."

Riku's decent to the couch was far more controlled than Sora's, but he was also likely a bit more aware of the situation they were currently in…together…alone…on a couch. It seemed like his nerves were jitterbugging all over his body.

"Yeah," he said doing his best to hide how nervous he was becoming. "Who would have thought at the beginning of the year that we would end up here?"

Sora looked over at him, and Riku could swear that he saw the exact moment that the other boy realized their proximity.

"Yeah," he murmured, sounding a little uncomfortable, "here we are…"

"So like…" Riku began awkwardly, "exactly what are we…here?" He didn't like the panic he saw awaken in Sora's eyes.

"We're friends, right?" came the brunet's quick response.

"You kissed me the other night, Sora." Riku pressed on, "And then you let me kiss you last night, too. I think that takes us to officially 'more than friends.'"

The room became silent after that and Sora was no longer looking at him.

"Sora?" he asked, heart pounding at the thought of rejection. That was amusing in and of itself to Riku. Everyone on the island seemed to think that he was so self-assured and confident, but here he was, sitting on the edge of his chair hoping that Sora wasn't about to boot him out of his apartment and life completely.

"I just…" the younger boy began at length, "I don't want things to be weird between us. I mean, I'm happy like this. We've barely become friends. I'm just now figuring out how this friendship thing is supposed to work. I don't have a clue what to do in something serious like that. Can't we just…I don't know, let things keep going as they are and see what happens?"

Riku breathed an internal sigh of relief. Sora wasn't going to reject him; clearly wanted to stay with him. He was apparently nervous about screwing up their friendship. How very Sora of him.

"I think you're over thinking this," Riku said, subtly shifting and bringing them closer together. "I mean, I'm not exactly an expert here either, but I think that's kind of the point. We'll never figure it out if we don't at least give it a try, right?"

Sora looked up, seemed startled by how near Riku suddenly was but didn't move to back away.

Taking courage from that fact, Riku moved in a little closer. "I at least want to try."

Without pausing to think about it, he closed the distance between them and covered Sora's mouth with his own. There was nothing beautiful about it, nothing mind blowing or earth-shaking. To be perfectly honest, the sensation of having someone else's lips between his was just plain weird, but there was something…

Something about the warmth, the closeness; the familiar scent that was uniquely Sora filling his nostrils, the other's hot breath passing over his cheek… Something about it all spoke to him of comfort and familiarity and combined, it made his pulse beat a little faster, his blood warm slightly and sent a pleasant shimmering tremble trough his nerves.

It was the first time that they'd tried it in earnest. It was awkward and decidedly passion-free, but when they pulled apart, it was still there between them. All the warmth and comfort and pleasure was still there, and there was a new light shining in Sora's eyes that had never been there before.

"You're just hell bent on making my life as complicated as possible aren't you?" Sora growled, shoving Riku playfully away. "Hayner's gonna be more pissed than ever, half the schools gonna start hating me again, Coach is gonna shit a brick…"

Riku felt the slow smile gradually pulling at his lips. "So then is that a yes?" he asked, eying Sora expectantly.

The other boy fell forward, propping himself up on folded arms on Riku's chest, not unlike he had done on the island just two days before.

"I guess it is," he said quirking a strange kind of happy/resigned smile. He leaned forward, closing the space between them again, and they spent the rest of the evening working together on replacing the awkward with something new.

-:- -:- -:-

Tuesday, Sora decided, was to be declared a day of awkward and lame, despite the fact that he was stupid-happy for its entirety. He and Riku had decided to try, and that decision stood…the problem was that neither of them really knew what to do from there. Sora felt like there were eyes on him for the whole day, watching him accusingly for daring to even try to be with Riku, and that made him nervous and uncomfortable. He just wasn't sure how he was supposed to act around his former vice-captain now. It seemed that Riku was having the same problem.

When they parted in the morning, there was that strange hovering moment again as they tried to figure out if they were supposed to kiss goodbye or not. This led to Sora losing his balance and Riku laughing at him as he helped the boy from the ground. At Nutrition and Lunch, both sort of sat close to each other but seemed suddenly over-concerned with how closely they sat. It's not that they were hiding the fact that they were together from anyone, they just didn't feel the need to announce it. So, in trying to behave as normal as possible, they just ended up looking even more awkward together as neither could properly relax around the other.

Hayner was still missing, Roxas was still not sitting with the rest of the group, and by all accounts, Sora felt that he should have been as frustrated and guilty that day as he had been the day before, but he wasn't. With Riku's constant presence during their breaks, secret thoughts of him during classes, Sora found that he felt far more satisfied with life than he had in a while. Maybe it wasn't such a bad idea to allow things to move further.

It was during their afternoon Demonstration prep time that the idea struck him. For the rest of the week, all Paopuan History and Art classes would be spent working on putting together garb, tools, and materials for the Demonstration on Saturday.

Axel and Riku were bickering over the right way to bead the necklaces they needed to make for their dance. Namine was across the room working on painting one of the colorful totems that would be used to decorate the stage for the performers, and as Sora sat in the auditorium watching his friends and working on his own part of the mass show of community that the Demonstration was, it got him to thinking about family.

Namine and Roxas had taken him into their home; welcomed him so easily when he'd needed it, and now Riku. According to Riku, his brothers, Axel…anyone who was asked, Riku held everything about himself close to his chest. The idea of him letting someone else into the private part of his life was unheard of, but he'd made an exception for Sora. Even if there had been strong feeling between the two of them, it was an extremely intimate thing for Riku to have done; introducing Sora to his brothers, allowing him to meet Sephiroth himself.

Looking at it that way, it was so…silly for Sora to hide his family so doggedly from everyone in his life. Already, the secrecy had caused one major falling out. Leon had made it clear that coming clean about his life and problems with people he trusted would be beneficial to all parties involved in the end, and there were already so many others who had opened their hearts to him.

That more than anything settled Sora on his course of action. He wanted to do something to return the favor; to somehow show his…boyfriend (that felt weird) and other friends just how much their love and trust meant to him. For Riku at least, he knew exactly what to do. The solution was obvious, really.

"Sora, are you sure?" Riku asked as they walked together towards the gym for practice after class.

"Yeah, I was gonna go after practice today anyway, and I need to stop acting like this is some kind of deep, dark secret. Besides, new faces might help to pull her back; help her to see that things are different and changing."

Riku smirked down at Sora and reached out a hand to ruffle his spikes, a gesture done with greater care and affection than ever before.

"Well if you're sure, Sor," he said, "then alright. I'd love to come and meet your mom."

-:- -:- -:-

"So, how long exactly are you planning to be pissy with your buddy?"

"Axel, not you too!" Roxas groaned from the passenger seat of Axel's old pick-up. Despite being fresh out of the shop, the engine still was making odd ticking noises and Roxas was pretty sure that the vehicle wouldn't be seeing many more years to come. "Naminé, Pence, Olette, and Sora are all already on my case about this, but what I said on Sunday stands. I'll forgive him when he apologizes to you guys, and not before."

Life had been nothing but frustration since Saturday night. First there was everything that had happened with Hayner, which was bad enough, but to make things even better, it seemed that everyone wanted him to just forgive and forget. He couldn't believe the things that Hayner had said, and while part of him knew that Hayner hadn't meant any of the bad things, that didn't excuse him for saying them.

Even more irritating was the fact that Roxas _knew _Hayner knew that he'd been out of line and was just being stubborn now. He was just throwing a tantrum, and if that's the way he wanted to play, then Roxas could give back just as good.

"And you don't think that you're being slightly immature in the way that you're handing this?" Axel asked pulling out into traffic, and Roxas scoffed.

"Axel, he used one of the single most offensive words in the English language to refer to people that he once claimed were his friends. So, no, I don't think I'm being immature for being pissed about it. I don't get why no one else seems to get that!"

"Because we all know Hayner," Axel told him calmly. "I don't even know the little shit that well, but he's no homophobe, and he's been your best friend for years. Both of you are just being stubborn and that's a pretty stupid reason to end a friendship."

"I'm not discussing this anymore," Roxas said, irritation plain in his voice. "I'll handle my relationships the way I want to. It's none of you business."

"Right, none of my business," Axel grumbled in reply under his breath. Roxas still heard.

"What exactly is that supposed to mean?" he snapped back, straining to keep his temper in check.

"What do you think it means? I would think that a friendship this important to you would be worth a little more effort than you're putting out so far." Axel told him. "Seriously Rox, I like you, a lot more lately than I ever have before, but looking at the way you're choosing to handle this thing with Hayner, I'm starting to wonder…"

"Yeah, well fuck you Axel," Roxas bit out before Axel could finish the sentence. He didn't want to hear what the redhead was wondering; didn't want to think about what their friendship was morphing into. He didn't want to think about Hayner, or the stubborn ache that refused to go away every time he thought about their encounter on Saturday night, or the seething rage that was directed at the situation as a whole with no particular target, or the fact that Axel was actually making a lot of sense with everything he'd said. Roxas just couldn't deal with it all at the moment.

The rest of the trip to his house was done in silence, Roxas staring moodily out the window. When Axel pulled to a stop, he leapt out without a word, slammed the door and stormed off to his entry way. He didn't even turn as Axel pulled away.

-:- -:- -:-

After years of practice, it was a relatively easy thing for Riku to slip into a mask that would hide everything going through his head from the general public. He knew how to look cool under pressure. Anyone watching the silver-haired boy at the moment would think that he was completely at ease, but the truth was, he was incredibly nervous and uncomfortable as he made his way through the halls of the Way to Dawn Care Center along with Sora to visit his newly established boyfriend's mother. Judging by his incessant flow of speech, Sora was pretty nervous about the situation as well, but both boys managed to hide behind their respective fronts to make the venture seem like something almost normal.

Sora smiled and greeted the staff like they were long time friends, and Riku realized with a start that they likely were. The brunet had given a better explanation of his mother's condition on the ride to the facility, and, from what Riku could gather, the woman was practically non-responsive most of the time. How long had Sora been doing this? How many times had he come here to see his mother only to have her completely ignore his existence?

Riku thought back on the last few months he had with his mom before she died. By the end, she had been too weak to leave her bed, but at least she still could talk to him. She always told him how much she loved him and his brothers; spoke regularly with their father. He couldn't imagine what it would have been like for her to be there but…not. Her physical presence without the love and recognition glowing in her eyes would have been too much for him to take.

"So you guys only have about fifteen minutes before her evening session," their guide—Tony was it?—said as he stopped in front of a door. "She's been really good today, so hopefully you'll have a good visit even if it has to be short."

The hope that sparked in Sora's eyes at those words was enough to make Riku feel like an ass for his previous thoughts. This was Sora, and he was doing what he had to do to help his mother get better. Riku would accept this offer of trust without clouding the situation with his negative thoughts.

"Mom?" Sora called tentatively, stepping in when Tony opened the door for them. "Hey, mom. There's someone here I want you to meet."

Riku stepped into the room, looking around as he did. It was a decent size, painted in warm muted browns, nothing like the clinical white he would have expected. Then again the entire place was very nice as a whole. The room was full of canvases and paintings that Riku assumed had been done by Sora's mother, and sitting on a full sized bed, which was against one of the room's walls, was Sora's mother herself.

She was a slight woman, long dark hair flowing over her shoulder as she brushed it slowly. Her skin was paler than Sora's and her eyes brown rather than blue, but she had Sora's heart shaped face; his narrow nose and it was clear that the boy had taken after his mother in stature.

She looked up slowly as the door closed, and Riku saw Sora's smile falter slightly at the lack of recognition in the woman's eyes.

"Mom, it's me, Sora," the brunet said, walking over to sit on the bed next to her. "You remember, right?"

Sora continued smiling encouragingly as his mother tilted her head slightly and a vague smile began pulling at her lips.

"You're growing up so fast, honey," she said airily. "You look so much like your father."

"Mom, I want you to meet my friend," Sora said, and Riku got the impression that he had intentionally cut off the train of thought involving his father. "This is Riku," he said, gesturing. "Riku, meet my mom, Rie."

Riku stepped forward and took one of the woman's small hands in his, squeezing gently as she looked up at him with wide confused eyes.

"It's a pleasure meeting you, ma'am," he said, putting as much warmth behind the words as he could manage.

"Sora, sweetie," Rie said turning sluggishly to her son. "You made a friend? You're father will be so happy when he gets home…"

"Mom," Sora began, and Riku saw the worry in his eyes.

"You're first day of 3rd grade and you're already making friends. Oh, Pao will be so proud, honey."

"Mom, no," Sora said taking her hand from Riku. "Remember, dad's not coming home. He's not here anymore."

"He'll be so proud, Sora. He'll be home soon. You should invite your friend to stay for dinner. Make sure your father gets to meet him…"

"Mom?" Rie's eyes had gone distant again and she continued murmuring to herself, despite Sora's efforts to get her attention. "Mom, c'mon," he tried again, and Riku could see the hurt clouding his eyes. It didn't look like they'd be getting her back any time soon.

Sora stood, running a hand through his hair as he returned to Riku's side. "She gets a little lost sometimes," he offered as an explanation, and it hurt Riku to see the painfully forced smile pulling at his features. "We should probably head out. The docs will take care of things from here."

Riku followed Sora to the door and was a little surprised when it opened before Sora had a chance to knock and alert Tony that they were ready to leave. They had barely been there for five minutes.

They walked together in silence until they reached Riku's jeep where it was parked at a meter on the street.

"This was actually really good," Sora told him as he climbed into the passenger's side, same forced smile firmly in place. "A couple of months ago, she'd barely say anything. Believe it or not," he chuckled lightly, "that was major progress."

"Stop it."

Sora blinked in confusion after Riku had spoken, and Riku just glared at him.

"Just stop, alright?" Riku pressed on. "You don't have to do that with me. Stop pretending it's okay. Stop acting like that didn't hurt. I know you better than that."

There was silence between them as Sora's face fell and took on a different kind of smile. This one was not forced at all, but there was no joy in it either. It was a bitter smile, self-deprecating and a touch ironic.

"I guess I've been doing that for so long I don't even really know how not to," the brunet admitted after a while. "It's true though. She's been talking more now than she ever has. She recognizes me almost every time I've visited over the past few weeks. She really is getting better Riku."

There was true hope in Sora's eyes this time as he spoke, none of the desperation that had been there before, and Riku couldn't help but believe it too.

"I know that didn't seem like much, but she's so much better than she has been. It won't be long before she can leave this place."

Riku offered a nod of understanding as Sora finished speaking. The evening air was cool and the fading light of the sun left the land cast in long shadows. They pulled away in silence, but soon fell into light conversation about nothing at all. There was no further talk of Sora's mother for the rest of the ride to Sora's home.

-:- -:- -:-

Wednesday morning, Sora woke with the realization that he would likely be playing in his first Blitzball game on that Friday. It was ridiculous that the Blitz season was already half way done and Sora hadn't been in the tank once yet in an official capacity, but there was nothing that Coach could say to keep him out of the game now.

Despite the pain of it at the beginning, Sora had pushed himself so that he wouldn't fall behind any of the others in the water once he was allowed back at practice. He was pretty much back to one-hundred percent physically, and he was close to having his blitzing stamina back to where he was before his accident as well. It was a bit of work to get his brain to realize that it didn't need to favor his injured side now, but he was moving more and more naturally through the water, and with help from Riku and Wakka both (because Graav and Raudy were still clueless as captains) he felt ready to take on the game again even if the idea of real game play was a little nerve-wracking.

Things with Riku were not much different than they had been on Tuesday. They were still not quite comfortable around each other at school which was just weird. When they had just been friends, things were never a problem, but somehow, taking things to the next step had made things different, just as Sora had known it would. He wasn't sure, however, if he was alright with the change. In fact…it seemed that there were just a lot of unpleasant changes happening in the relationships in his life.

Roxas was more disgruntled than usual when he walked in for Homeroom that morning, and Sora sighed looking at Hayner who was still on the opposite side of the room from them. Tidus frowned at the two of them but just shook his head and pulled out his homework and started checking it.

Somehow, that was the last straw. _Tidus_ intentionally doing work rather than spend time with his friends!? The world was definitely about to come to an end if Sora didn't do something.

Seeing that there was still about seven minutes before class began, Sora took a deep breath, stood and crossed the distance over to Hayner, squatting down to glare at the other boy at eye level. He felt the rest of his classmates watching but paid them no attention.

"You can't avoid us forever," he stated plainly. "We need to talk about this."

Hayner didn't appear to be listening, just continued writing in his notebook without looking up.

"Hayner, c'mon, this is stupid," Sora said. "How are we supposed to fix this if you won't even talk to me?"

The blond didn't twitch.

"Hayner—"

"Leave him alone, Sora," Roxas growled from across the room. "He's not worth the time or effort."

This at least managed to get a reaction out of Hayner, even if it was undiluted rage and hatred as his head snapped up and he glared at Roxas. Ms. Gainsborough stepped back into the room then, quite possibly preventing an all out screaming fight, but she didn't miss the tension in the air or the look of extreme frustration on Sora's face.

The bell rang. Class was called into session, and it seemed like the gaping chasm that had grown between the four boys was growing bigger with every passing day.

-:- -:- -:-

"So what are you doing after practice?"

"It's Wednesday, Riku, I have to work the desk."

After a rather interesting session in science and productive period of Demonstration prep, Sora had met Riku outside of the auditorium to walk to their lunch area together. The student population, now accustomed to seeing the two together, spared them the usual glances, but not much more.

_I wonder what would happen if we started wondering around hand-in-hand_ Sora mused to himself, but continued their conversation.

"Besides, now that I'm back to work and not sleeping all day like I was when I was sick, I'm starting to feel it again. Just when I thought exhaustion headaches were a thing of the past."

"Well," Riku tried again, "maybe I can swing by and hang out with you while you work?"

"I guess," Sora said with a sigh, "I'll need to do homework and I never know how busy things will get while I'm there, but if you really want to come stare at me while I answer phones, I can't stop you."

"Woah there, try to contain your enthusiasm," Riku snipped rolling his eyes. "If you don't want me to come just say so."

Sora rubbed at his forehead as it was beginning to ache. He knew that this thing with Riku would be weird. Maybe if there was less going on it would be easier for them to figure out how everything was supposed to go, but with the situation as it stood, it just felt to Sora like they had ruined a budding friendship.

"Look, Riku," he said trying to calm a sudden up-swelling of emotion, "that's not what I meant, alright? You know that I like hanging-out with you, I just…I'm tired and not thinking very well right now. Something's up with Roxas and I want to catch him at his locker to see if he'll talk to me; my friend Jim is planning something stupid and dragging me into it in our Science class; I'm feeling all stressed about the blitz game on Friday and—"

"Sora, breathe." Riku cut him off before he could continue. "Keep this up and you're gonna pass out by the end of the week."

The irritation was gone from the other boy's voice and Sora felt a little of the pressure in him ease.

"I just really want all of this to smooth over soon," he sighed. "With everything that's happening now on top of all the other fun in my life, I feel like I'm starting to crack under the pressure."

"Well that's what I'm here for," Riku said, smiling for him. "Consider me your personal depressurizer."

Without warning, Riku pulled Sora into a vacant side passage away from student traffic and prying eyes. The brunet eeped as he found himself pressed between the wall and Riku, reminded oddly of his first encounter with Axel all those weeks ago.

The small space between them vanished and then it was just heat; lips, tongue, teeth nibbling and exploring. One of Riku's hands slipped around Sora's waist pulling their bodies closer, and Sora found his hands burying themselves in the silky strands tumbling about the base of the taller boy's neck.

This much, at least, they seemed to have figured out. When they were so close, enveloped in the heat growing between their two bodies, it was easy to forget the awkwardness that existed around others; easy to let go of all the things that felt like they were weighing Sora down. In fact, everything else seemed to stop mattering aside from the desperate need to fall as far into Riku as possible; the growing desire to consume every part of the older boy and make them his own…

"Well, can't say that I didn't see that one coming."

Sora shoved Riku away, allowing his weight to drop as he tried to get away from the other boy as quickly as possible. Face flaming, heart pounding, he looked up from the ground to see Meg standing at the entrance to their 'private' passage, hands on her hips with her characteristic smile in place.

"Please, continue," she said, smile widening. "I was just starting to enjoy myself."

"What do you want, Sophronia?" Riku growled, still standing, hands pressed against the wall.

"Easy there, tiger," she purred, "I actually come baring good news…sort of."

"Good, news?" Sora asked, allowing Riku to help him from the ground. "Like what?"

"I got a visit from Trav last night," she said, voice softening a little and expression becoming more serious. "Apparently the inquiry is over. It was a joke from the beginning, more his dad trying to bully the school around, but," she breathed a deep sigh, "it's official now. He's permanently off the team."

Sora stared at Meg, eyes widening slightly. Truth be told, he had completely forgotten about the investigation that was supposed to be happening surrounding the incident with Bickson. Between his bout with pneumonia and everything else that had happened over the course of the past three weeks, Bickson was actually the last thing on his mind. He thought that someone would have contacted him about the whole thing since it had been Bickson's attack on Sora that was supposedly being investigated, but if what Meg said was true, then it made sense that things had never made it back to him. That was the way legalities worked, right?

"So that's it then," Sora said with a small quirk of a smile. "No more Bickson. Now I just have to deal with Coach and his wrath."

"Yeah," Meg gave a little smile of her own, "and that also means that all of you are stuck with me for the duration, but that's actually not the main reason I came to track you down, cutie."

Riku glared slightly at that and Sora rolled his eyes shoving the older boy playfully.

"What else is there to tell?" he asked.

"Well, apparently, Trav's dad didn't take the loss so lightly. They had a massive fight last night, which is why Trav ended up crashing on my bedroom floor. Thing is, he was gone this morning when I woke up and I no one has seem him sense."

She looked firmly down at Sora before continuing. "I don't wanna freak you out or anything, but I want to make sure that you remember what I told you before. I don't think he's stupid enough to try anything else after all of this, but the advice stands. You see Trav around, you get away from him."

She looked up to Riku next. "Take care of the kitten, tiger. The last thing I want to see is him get hurt again."

-:- -:- -:-

**A/N:**

Aaaand ending it there. This chapter was supposed to have a ton of other stuff, but I realized that it all just wouldn't fit so…here you go. Stopped at 12K words as usual.

Things of Note: OMG IT HAPPENED! But too bad…neither knows what they're doing. AkuRoku on the Rox…I mean rocks. Hayner…we still love you! Riku's fam…they make me laugh. And more talk of Bickson…

Paopuan Terms:

_Aikhane_ – true story. _Aikane_ (I just added an 'h' to make it Paopuan) are apparently a fairly important part of traditional Hawaiian culture.


	13. Interlude: Caught Black Handed

**Standard Disclaimer:** Not mine! No money!

**Notes:** Right…so…chapter 11…is in progress…a little stalled at the moment, but in progress for sure. In the mean time, here is a bit more of the adventures with Sora and Jim. This one will be a little weird because it actually happens in the middle of next chapter, but yeah…there won't be another one of these I don't think. Here be the last of the clowns.

**Warnings:** Boys being boys

-:-finem-:-

**Life on the Blitz**

**Re: Interlude: **

**Caught Black Handed**

_Thursday, November 22nd_

_Operation: Bitter Sip_

_Status: Initiated_

When Sora walked into 3rd period that day, Jim was sitting at his desk already, looking entirely too innocent. Jim didn't do innocent very well. Sora knew without asking that something was up.

"So what's the plan this time genius?" Sora asked with a sigh, dropping down into his seat beside the other brunet.

"This time we've got him," Jim said, looking around carefully to make sure they weren't overheard.

"Y'know…those words sound awfully familiar." Sora made a show of thinking very hard about something. "Oh, wait. Right. That's what you said about the flower incident."

"Not my fault," Jim defended. "That pink-haired freak at the green house said he'd be thrilled. Last time I'll trust a senior that's for sure."

"Right, and how about Operation Terror from Beyond?"

"This is totally different."

"Operation Wonderland?"

"Oh, you gotta admit, that one was funny!" Jim snorted.

"Yeah, 'cause you weren't the one on the receiving end of his death glare for the rest of class," Sora groused. "C'mon Jim, the semester is almost over. We've tried everything we could think of to crack his cool. Just face it: clearly the man is inhuman, and to be perfectly honest, the fact that he's done nothing in retaliation since those candy grams in September is kinda freakin' me out."

Jim smirked again looking over at Sora. "I'm telling you, this time, we've got him. My plan is one-hundred percent fool proof."

"Here we go," Sora sighed, dropping his face into his hands. He was too tired to protest and Jim had apparently already done what he was going to do, so there was no point in it anyway.

"So," the other boy began, "you know how Vexen is always nursing that ratty old mug of tea right after Nutrition?"

"He preps it on the lab bench in a huge beaker," was Sora's glib reply. "Kinda hard to miss."

"Well…" Jim continued with just a hint (this boy's ego could compete with Hades') of smugness in his voice. "I kinda figured out where he keeps his mug. And I kinda might have nabbed it before class."

"What did you do?" Sora asked, part horrified, part impressed. The fact that his friend had managed that without getting caught was nothing short of miraculous.

"Let's just say, his tea sipping may not be so pleasant today." That was all that Jim could get out as Vexen chose that moment to enter the room from his office, located between their room and the one next door. As always, he said nothing as the last of the students found their way to their seats.

Sora kept shooting looks at Jim who was still trying to pull his innocent act even as he opened one of his palms to revel a small bottle of the weird liquid parents used to keep their kids from biting their nails. The stuff was disgusting! Bitter and sharp and lingering like nothing else. Yes, Sora knew this from personal experience. If Jim had put that all over Vexen's mug…well, that would definitely get a reaction out of their teacher.

Sora was noticing that the shadows on Jim's hand were looking particularly deep and dark when Professor Vexen spoke.

"In honor of the upcoming Cultural Demonstration this weekend, today I will be providing you with a demonstration of my own. Complete problem sets one through twenty on page two hundred ninety four of your text while I prepare."

Sora and Jim pulled out their books, flipping to the appropriate page with the rest of their class and pulling out their notebooks where they would have to complete the work. They did their best to make a good show of problem solving, but both were far too distracted to concentrate. They kept trying to watch their teacher for signs that he was ready to prepare his tea as always.

About ten minuets later, the most of the class was nearly done with their problem sets, and both Sora and Jim were getting a bit antsy in their seats. This _would_ be the one day out of the entire year that their teacher would choose not to drink his stupid tea!

Finally, Vexen emerged with his beaker full of water and old chipped mug and began preparing his tea. Both boys tensed, watching while pretending not to watch, waiting.

The blond man poured his tea. He waited a bit, allowing the beverage to cool then lifted it to his mouth, sipping quietly before freezing abruptly. Sora and Jim waited for the coughing fit, the explosion of liquid flying from his mouth…at the very least a grimace to show his displeasure at the bitter taste invading his taste buds. What they got instead was Vexen, calmly swallowing, setting the mug aside and then addressing the class.

"All who have _not_ completed your problem set, raise your hand," he ordered sharply. He was already glaring in Jim and Sora's direction, and both boys were sweating discretely.

"Just stay cool," Jim whispered as they raised their hands along with a handful of other students in the room. "He can't prove a thing."

"On the contrary, Mr. Hawkins," both boys cried out in terror as their teacher suddenly appeared at their side, grabbing Jim's hand in an icy latex grip, "your hands do all the speaking for you."

Jim and Sora both looked up at the dark smears that covered Jim's palms and fingers in silent horror as Vexen pulled Jim to his feet.

"Silver Nitrate, gentlemen," he ground out, dragging a shocked Jim to the front of the room. "Everything in my work area is dusted with it. You'll learn all about it in about a year. Come, Mr. Holani," Vexen ordered. "I require two subjects for this particular experiment."

Sora felt sick as he followed his lab partner to whatever fate awaited them. Apparently tea was where Vexen drew the line with accepting their lame attempts to prank him. It had all been in good fun, though. Their teacher wouldn't really do anything too horrible to them would he?

The boys both yelped again as their teacher pulled a large carving knife from somewhere in on the lab bench, and Sora began wondering at how true his last thoughts had been. He also began wondering at the stories that he had heard about Vexen at the beginning of the year. They had been fools to ignore all of the things other people had said about the man. You didn't just make stuff like that up. It had to be at least in part grounded in some form of reality, right? Looking out into the nervous and whispering faces of his classmates, he wondered if he and his friend were about to become another on of those stories that no one would believe in a year. He swallowed thickly, catching Jim's frightened eye as the knife flashed in the florescent lighting.

Everyone in the room breathed more easily when Vexen simply pulled out an apple, sliced it in half, then put the knife away again. He placed an apple half in front of each boy then pulled two prepared and labeled beakers filled with clear liquid in front of each. He then gave each a latex glove and an eyedropper.

"Safety first, gentlemen" he intoned. "Put on your glove." The boys complied nervously. "Mr. Holani, use the eyedropper to put several drops of your liquid onto your half of the apple."

Sora looked at his teacher uncertainly for a moment, looked at Jim who just shrugged, then using his gloved hand, picked up the eyedropper filled it and squirted the fluid onto the apple. The substance ate through the apple very quickly, hissing slightly and leaving a sinking feeling in the pit of the brunet's stomach. He didn't like any of the possible outcomes to this situation that had just flashed through his mind.

"Hydrochloric acid," Vexen all but purred. "The same substance our body uses to break down food in our stomachs," he explained to the class before addressing Jim. "Mr. Hawkins, do the same with your liquid."

Jim did as he was told and his apple too was swiftly eaten through.

"Sodium Hydroxide," Vexen stated. "A common substance used in drain cleaners."

He collected both beakers and, eyeing his two 'assistants' evilly, poured the liquids together into a larger beaker.

"The question, class, is what will happen when these two highly corrosive substances are combined," he idly swirled the liquid in the beaker, watching the class expectantly, waiting for a response. "Mr. Hawkins," he rounded on Jim. "What do you think?"

Jim blinked dumbly for a moment before venturing, "Uh…burning death?"

That's when it happened. His back was to the rest of the class so only the two boys standing before him saw it, but Vexen's lips stretched into the most horrifying, dementedly gleeful smile either had ever seen. It was definitely a deviation from his usual flat expression, but one that neither Jim nor Sora ever wanted to see in life again. Hearts skipped, faces paled, and then suddenly, two more beakers appeared from nowhere.

"Let's find out shall we?" their teacher asked, twisted grin falling away but glee still dancing in his eyes. He poured half of the substance into each of the beakers then leaned forward piercing eyes focused on Jim. "Since you seem to enjoy playing with my things, Mr. Hawkins, here's your chance. Refill your eye dropper and test the liquid…on Mr. Holani's hand."

The room went perfectly still and silent.

"Wait, _what_?!" Jim asked, certain that he had misheard. Vexen was a little nuts, but he was still a teacher; still an adult… There were laws against stuff like this!

"Do as I said, or I will pour these over both of your heads."

"Jim…." Sora said, starting to panic. He honestly didn't want anything to do with the whole mess anymore and after they got through this (if they got through this) he vowed that he would never even think about doing anything against their teacher or any other teacher again. Unfortunately, there was a choice that had to be made. He never would have guessed that Vexen would be so friggin vindictive. It had been tea for crying out loud! But if the choice was between losing some skin on his hand versus giving his head an acid bath…he figured his hand was likely to fix itself faster than his head.

"Man, just do it…I can take it," he hissed at his friend.

"Sora, are you nuts?! I'm not putting this stuff on you!"

"If you don't he will!" Sora growled back, "On our _heads_! Do it!"

"No!"

"Too, slow." Both boys froze once again as their teacher appeared beside them. A moment later, they felt cool liquid running from the top of their heads, down their faces, soaking the fabric of their shirts.

There was another beat of silence before both boys were screaming, scrambling to get to the emergency rinse stations located in the room in case of chemical spills Both were completely panicking, sticking their heads in the water, scrubbing furiously hoping to save themselves from the burning death they were sure was coming.

Sora was the first to realize that nothing unusual was happening. Aside from the fact that his upper body was now completely soaked, nothing seemed to be burning off or melting or anything like that. He looked at their teacher who was eying them both coolly, the class who all seemed to be in varying states of shock (was that one kid passed out?), then made his way over to Jim, pulling his friend's head from under the flow of water.

"Uh…we're not burning," he observed flatly, shaking water from his hair.

"No, you're not," Vexen drawled. "A pity, that. This is an introduction to acid/base reactions. You'll be studying this in greater depth when you begin lessons in Chemistry but so that you know, those two substances combine to make…salt water. You both may return to your seats."

Vexen continued the lesson as if nothing had happened, Sora and Jim both staring at him in complete shock for a good five minutes before returning to their seats at last.

"Never again…" Sora hissed at his lab partner, wringing water from his shirt onto the floor. Jim offered no words of protest.

_Thursday, November 22nd_

_Operation: Bitter Sip_

_Status: … success?_

-:- -:- -:-

**A/N:**

Tee hee…

For those who don't know, Silver Nitrate stains your skin black hence the title of this chap. Hope you enjoyed this. I thought it was rather amusing to write.


	14. Ch 11: Heart to Heart

**Standard Disclaimer:** If I draw them all enough, maybe one day they'll be mine…but I'm not holding my breath.

**Notes: **First off,this chapter is dedicated to the fabulous **QuirkQuirk **who drew amazing fanart for this fic. (link in profile) My first ever…and I still have no words. Secondly, I apologize for the delay, but were I to show you this chapter in its original form, you would all thank me for saving you from that agony. I don't know how many times I had to call do-overs on this one. It's not perfect, but, I'm tired of playing with it. Enjoy.

**Warnings:** Gratuitous use of Disney and Square characters, language, at least one homosexual relationship, bigoted ass-holes, semi non-con encounters, made-up culture and language, lots of Blitzball, and general teen awkwardness. Enjoy!

-:-finem-:-

**Life on the Blitz**

**Chapter 1****1****: **

**Heart to Heart**

After talking with Meg, catching Roxas at his locker was pretty much a lost cause, so Sora and Riku headed for the next most logical place to find him; the bleachers on the blacktop where Axel usually sat. Roxas had been spending more time with the redhead ever since the great schism between him and Hayner, so you can imagine both Sora and Riku's surprise when they arrived and Roxas was nowhere to be seen. Axel sat amongst his usual group of friends, lounging lazily as he munched on carrot sticks from Demyx's lunch.

"Where's Roxas?" Sora asked in confusion.

Axel turned his attention to where Sora and Riku were standing, shrugging lightly as he responded.

"How should I know?" He stole a final carrot from Demyx, popping it into his mouth before sitting forward a little. "I'm not his babysitter. It's not my job to track him down when he throws a temper tantrum."

Sora and Riku shared a look.

"I'll see you at fifth period," Sora said, already backing away, and Riku waved an acknowledgement as he moved towards Axel, frowning.

"Let's walk," he told the redhead, catching his friend's green eyes. Axel gave a resigned sigh and dragged himself from were he was sitting to stand beside the sophomore's shorter frame. Riku led the way back out of the school yard towards the more abandoned breeze-ways.

"You sure you don't want to follow the porcupine, Reeks?" Axel said before Riku could even gather his thoughts. "That'd probably be a much better way for you to waste your time."

"Right," Riku said, ignoring his friend's attempt at evasion. "What the hell's going on with you and Roxas?"

"Riku, seriously bud," Axel began, a cocky smirk pulling at his lips, "I get that you're trying to help, but you're kinda the last person who should be trying to give any kind of relationship advice."

Riku glared at his older friend, acknowledging the truth of the statement, but still not allowing himself to be distracted. "Axel, are you gonna tell me what's going on or am I gonna have to drag Reno into this?"

Axel scoffed. "You wouldn't."

Riku's gaze didn't waver, and Axel growled knowing full we that Riku would use any means necessary to get the information he wanted.

"Asshole," Axel muttered, shooting Riku a glare. "I think Spike's a bad influence on you."

"You're stalling," Riku told him flatly and Axel rolled his eyes.

"I'm commenting," Axel corrected, "and there seriously isn't anything you can do about this. It's all on Roxas."

-:- -:- -:-

"It's all on Axel," Roxas growled walking in step with Sora as they moved towards the school's east garden. "The asshole doesn't know how to mind his own damn business! I'm handling things with Hayner in my own way. The last thing I need is everyone else's opinions on what I should be doing instead!"

Sora cringed at the heat in the blond's voice, trying to think of something to say that wouldn't turn Roxas' wrath back on him.

"Well, what did he say exactly?" Sora asked. That seemed like safe enough territory.

"Some bullshit about me being immature and not putting out enough effort to fix things," Roxas grumbled. "Everyone keeps saying it; I've been friends with Hayner for years! I know how to handle him by now. I wish that all of you would just back off about it already."

"Ok," Sora conceded, not wanting to push because he knew Roxas well enough to know that pushing only pissed him off, and there was no reasoning with a pissed-off Roxas. "So how are you handling it? Maybe if you explain what you're thinking, it'll be easier for all of us to accept that you know what you're doing."

The request was met with silence. Sora was fine to let things stay that way for a while until they reached the garden, formulating his own words as they entered.

"Do you _have_ a plan for how to handle things with Hayner?" he asked at length, a little hesitant. He was once again met with silence. That was answer enough. "Then _why_ are you pissed at Axel again?"

"I don't know!" Roxas finally gusted, flopping down onto a conveniently placed bench near the garden's entrance and gesturing wildly with his hands. "I'm just tired Sora! I'm tired of everyone trying to force things to be better between us; tired of people telling me that I should stop being pissed. I'm mad, yes. What else is new? We do this. One of us does something stupid, we fight for a few days then we get over it. That's how it's always been!

"He screwed up, I screwed up. He's pissed, I'm pissed. It'll blow over! It always does! Why isn't that good enough for anyone!?"

"Look, Rox," Sora began, sitting down next to his friend and taking a deep breath. It felt like he was about to dive into the Tank without a game suit. "I don't really know what to tell you." He shrugged a little awkwardly, staring at the ground and only occasionally flicking his eyes towards Roxas. "You and Hayner have a huge history that has nothing to do with me, so if you really think this is no different from any of your other fights, then I'll trust your judgment, but I don't know," he paused a moment, rubbing the back of his neck before continuing. "I've never seen Hayner like this before, and it seems like there's a whole lot more going on than what either of you are willing to talk about. I'm probably not the best person to say, but…seems to me like Axel would have better insight than I would.

"I'm not taking sides," Sora raised his hands in the classic surrender gesture as Roxas rounded on him. "I'm just saying…if he's someone who you think you might be able to talk to this about, I don't think you should be so quick to push him away."

Roxas seemed to think about this, his irritation melting away almost immediately. He slumped slightly with a sigh and Sora, giving a soft pat on his shoulder, left Roxas alone with his thoughts.

-:- -:- -:-

"Highwind Apartments, this is Sora, how can I help you?" Sora did his best to not laugh as Riku stared very seriously at him, making stern faces as he listened to Sora's side of the conversation.

"Mr. Highwind's out of the office this evening, but I can take a message for you." Sora grabbed the memo pad beside the phone and began writing. "Uh huh…right. Cool, I'll make sure he get's it. Have a good evening. _Riku!_" he hissed after hanging up the phone. The older boy was now smirking broadly at Sora, looking quite please with himself as he leaned back in his borrowed chair. "Are you _trying_ to get me fired, asshole?"

"I'm just making sure your performance is up to par, Sora," Riku told him, mock-sternly. "If you can't work under pressure, I don't know…maybe the clerical field just isn't for you."

"My performance isn't the problem," Sora said, copying Riku's posture and propping his feet in the other's lap. "It's the irritating distractions that wander in here off the streets."

"Oh, so I'm irritating now?" Riku asked, running his fingers lightly over the back of Sora's calves, and Sora immediately twitched his legs away, laughing.

"You're ticklish," Riku declared, grinning like a wolf that had just spotted a grazing fawn.

"You're imagining things," Sora returned, a little too quickly, rolling his chair as far away from Riku as he could in the small space behind the front desk. There was no way he would admit to that one. No way, no how!

"You are!" Riku began advancing on Sora, fingers wiggling threateningly even as Sora continued shaking his head in denial. The sophomore wasn't buying it, and Sora knew that his fate was sealed, but then…

_Riiiing…riiiing…_

"Saved by the bell," Sora smirked, turning in his rotating chair to reach the appropriate line.

"You can't stay on the phone forever," Riku purred, and Sora stuck his tongue out, picking up the receiver.

"Highwind Apartments, this is Sora, how can I help you?"

"Hey, Shorty," Sora perked at the familiar voice.

"Rinoa!" he said, smiling over at Riku who was watching and listening casually in his seat, "no calling on the job, remember?"

"I know, I know, but this really couldn't wait."

Sora's brows creased at the grim tone of his aunt's voice. He turned his attention away form Riku, heart suddenly in his throat.

"What is it?" he asked. "What's wrong?"

There was a short silence on the other line before Rinoa sighed and finally began to speak. "Look, there's no easy way to say this so I'm just gonna be blunt. I got a notice from your dad's life insurance people today, and it looks like they'll be canceling coverage of your mother's care after this fiscal year."

Sora froze, a strange shivery tingling traveling from the top of his head down his entire body.

"Wait, what does that mean?" he asked in confusion. She couldn't be saying what he thought she was saying.

"It means that we've got until the end of March." Rinoa spoke in false light tones, doing her best to make the situation seem less bad than it was. "After that, either we find another way to pay for your mom's care at Way to Dawn, or we're gonna have to find someplace else for her."

Sora stared blankly at the small rack of maintenance keys in front of him, mind going quiet in the wake of the news. He didn't know what to say…didn't know what to think…

"Sora?" Rinoa's worried voice broke into the silence of his thoughts.

"…We can't." Panic was beginning to force its way through the emptiness, filling his throat and shaking his voice.

"Sora, we have to," Rinoa sighed. "Even once I'm done with my probationary period with Shinra, I won't be making nearly enough to pay for that place. We'll just have to…find somewhere else…"

"No! Rinoa, we can't! They can't do this!" Sora was aware of Riku's hand on his shoulder, but he ignored it, the anxiety flooding through him blocking all else out.

"I know it sucks, kiddo…" The calm of his aunt's voice was infuriating. "…but there's nothing we can do."

"She's getting better, Rin," Sora said desperately. "You _know_ what the doctors said. If we move her it could ruin everything."

"I know Sora, I know."

"…I can't believe this."

"I know."

-:- -:- -:-

Riku stayed with Sora as late as he could that night, doing his best to comfort the smaller boy in any way he could. The rest of Sora's desk shift had been fortunately very slow, allowing him time to talk to his aunt, but there was a certain hopelessness to his expression when he finally hung up the phone an hour later.

Riku didn't know what to do. He'd never seen Sora look so completely…lost. He could almost feel the brunet cutting himself off from everything and everyone around him, falling into himself in some kind of defensive mechanism. It was all that Riku could do to get him to talk about what had happened.

The situation was bad. Apparently, something had gone amiss somewhere along the line. Since Sora's mother still had medical and life insurance of her own, his father's money should never have been transferable to her health care. The company even admitted that it was an error on their part that had just been overlooked for almost _six years_. Better still, Sora's aunt had canceled his mother's health insurance years ago since it had apparently no longer been needed, and any service that would cover her, at this point, would be as ridiculously expensive as Way to Dawn itself.

Things could have been worse. The company could have requested a full refund of the mistakenly given funds, putting both Rinoa and Sora grossly in debt, but because the company was at fault, they were willing to let it slide. It helped that Sora's father's life insurance money happened to be just enough to have covered the bill for Way to Dawn up until that point.

Basically, all of the money that should have gone to Sora and his mother after his father's death was now gone; they had four months to find a new facility where Sora's mother could receive care, or for her to get better on her own; said facility would have to be within a reasonable price range with adequate service, and, with the islands being such a small community, it was likely that the only places that would fit those criteria…were on the mainland.

It had suddenly become a very real possibility that Sora would be moving away.

-:- -:- -:-

Thursday morning dawned bright and sunny, the cool fall morning air serving as a perfect counter to the almost harsh brightness of it all. Birds were calling, the roar of the ocean created distant, soothing white noise…and Roxas hated all of it.

Now, usually, Roxas took in the islands' fair weather with a sense of contentment. He didn't drool over it the way that some did, but he did appreciate the fact that he was one of a lucky few people in the world who could enjoy this kind of tropical weather all year round. Unfortunately, there were other things happening in his life taking away his ability to see the silver lining around the clouds, namely in the form of his apparent abandonment by all of his friends.

Hayner still wasn't talking to him, which was fine by Roxas, but it seemed that Pence and Olette, in hope of not appearing to take sides, were avoiding both of them until they got their 'disagreement' settled. Sora was working again so he wasn't over anymore, and then there was Axel…

This left Roxas sitting at home alone the night before listing while Kairi and Naminé did whatever they did in the room down the hall, feeling like a complete loser, and that was just unacceptable!

"You really are doing this to yourself, Roxas," Naminé said, smiling softly at him as they sat together on the bus. "If you would actually talk these things out instead of running away and hoping they'll fix themselves, you wouldn't be in this situation."

"Naminé, just because you're my twin doesn't mean that you know everything that's going on my head."

"On the contrary, little brother," she teased knowing full well that Roxas hated it when she called attention to their one inch height difference despite his five minute age advantage, "I know exactly what's bumping around in that head of yours, just as well as you know that I know. The good thing is that since I'm not you, I can point out some of the things that you aren't willing to admit to yourself."

"Like what?" Roxas grumbled folding his arms and glaring out the window.

"Like the fact that you're scared," she said simply. "You're scared because things are changing, you're changing, and you don't want to deal with it."

Roxas stared flatly at his sister and she smiled back at him.

"It's ok, Roxas," she told him standing. They had reached their stop. "Change isn't always a bad thing."

Roxas followed Naminé off the bus, glaring at the back of her head as she went to greet Kairi and some of their other friends.

Scared. Right. What did he have to be afraid of?

He was wondering what he should do to occupy himself before first period when he spotted Riku's black jeep pulling into the school parking lot, Sora riding shotgun. He watched as the silver-haired teen reached out and ran a hand affectionately through Sora's chestnut spikes, leaning forward to drop a kiss on the other boy's nose causing Sora to smile and roll his eyes, pushing Riku away playfully.

_Now wait just a holy freakin' second!_

Roxas hurried over to the jeep, snatching Sora away without a word and dragging his friend to a quiet corner near their homeroom.

"When did that happen?!?" he asked, pointing accusingly back towards the parking lot.

"What? Who? Roxas?!" Sora looked up with confused eyes, obviously startled by Roxas' sudden appearance.

"You…and Riku!" the blond clarified. "I mean I know that was the goal and everything, but when the hell did it actually happen?!"

"Uh…I guess Monday night?" Sora said still looking a little shell-shocked. "We never said anything, but we weren't really hiding it either."

"Great," Roxas groused. "Perfect. I'm so out of it I can't even notice major events happening with my friends. God, Sora," he sighed, shoving his palms into his eyes and leaning back against the wall behind him. "My life is _so_ screwed up right now!"

Sora chuckled lightly and came up beside him. "Still haven't figured out things with Axel or Hayner yet?" he asked, and Roxas was grateful to have someone to talk to who didn't seem to judge his every word.

"No, I haven't, and I'm starting to realize that I don't even know how to! You were right, ok? All I did last night was think about everything everyone's been saying, and I just…I don't know what I'm supposed to do!"

"Don't you think you should be saying this to…someone else, maybe?" Sora asked, with a small quirk of a smile.

"What? You mean, Axel?" he scoffed, "Right, like I'd give that jerk the satisfaction of knowing he was right. He'd never let me live it down."

"Roxas, stop whining and just go talk to Axel already."

Riku seemed to appear out of nowhere, knocking the blond on his head with a closed fist. "And Sora, learn to take care of your own issues before you start trying to help other people with theirs."

"What?" Roxas looked at Sora startled, noticing for the first time the dark circles under his friend's eyes. "What does he mean? What's going on?"

"No." Riku held up a finger halting any further questions. "Deal with your own shit first, Capiz." And with that, the older boy grabbed a sputtering Sora and dragged him back into student traffic.

Roxas glared after the pair, cursing Riku under his breath. Once they vanished he released a long sigh, turning to give the wall a firm kick. Guess there wasn't much else he could do. He turned towards the black-top to go find Axel.

-:- -:- -:-

"Riku! C'mon, ease off!" Sora protested, struggling out of Riku's strong grip. "You didn't need to do that," he grumbled, falling into step beside the other boy. "It really looked like Roxas needed someone to talk to."

"Yeah," Riku agreed, "and that's what Axel's for. If Roxas can't figure out how to deal with his problems on his own then that's on him. You've got enough to deal with right now without adding other people's issues to your list."

An awkward silence fell between them at this. The previous night was still fresh in each of their minds, the potential change in Sora's living situation hanging heavily over them. There were questions left unasked. Was it even worth it to pursue a relationship if Sora would just be leaving in the end? Should they cut things off now before they got too serious? The air between them became thick with the unvoiced doubts and concerns, but neither seemed to want to address them.

"It's going to be ok," Riku offered, pulling Sora out of the main stream of student traffic, tentatively wrapping him in a hug. "You know that right?"

Sora nodded, agreeing with Riku even though he wasn't sure if he actually believed him. Honestly, he had no clue what was going to happen next. He'd spent half the night worrying about it and now he was just too tired to care. If Riku wanted to offer empty promises, Sora would accept them. Rinoa had told him to let her deal with the details, so he would do that too. This, on top of everything else, was threatening to destroy the precarious balance he was just beginning to find in his life.

As Riku's arms settled more confidently around him, Sora found himself returning the embrace. It was a novelty; this level of strength and security something he hadn't experience in far too long. He tore his mind from thoughts of losing that comfort before he'd even gotten used to it; focused on now. He just had to believe that later would work itself out somehow.

-:- -:- -:-

First period went by in all its usual glory. Sora didn't bother with the Hayner situation in light of recent events. He did however notice that while Hayner was still on the opposite side of the room and he still wasn't speaking to Roxas or anyone in their little corner, there was a distinct air of pouty determination about him; like a kid who refused to try something new despite the fact that everyone else seemed to be enjoying it without him. This gave Sora hope. It looked like Hayner was getting over his anger. That meant that it was only a matter of time before he cracked completely and, hopefully, smoothed things over with everyone.

Major preparations were underway on campus as student and faculty alike scrambled to get everything ready to shuttle over to the Restoration Site the next day in preparation for Saturday. Everyone had been working diligently for the entire week, and now that it was crunch-time, there were some who were beginning to crack under the pressure. Chaos ruled the school as teachers and students tried to make sense of everything.

Sora observed it all with a strange sense of detachment. There was part of him that was also feeling the pressure as well, but it all seemed different to him now. The urgency was gone. Things would get done when they got done and if they weren't ready when they needed to be, it wouldn't be the end of the world. He just couldn't handle something else to be stressed over.

He sat at Nutrition, taking everything in. People everywhere were working on things for the Demonstration or Harvest Festival in one way or another. There was unusual silence surrounding their tree as everyone there was taking the break time to catch up on projects of their own. Even Roxas had stopped sulking in favor of finishing the last details on his garb.

"I can't get these stupid beads on here right!" Selphie finally exploded, throwing the tassel she'd been working on to the ground.

"Selphie!" both Olette and Kairi screeched, Kairi snatching up the tassel to inspect it for damage while Olette scrambled after a couple of runaway beads.

"Selph, you can't just go throwing this stuff around," Kairi scolded. "It's not like we have time to go back to the island and get you more stones for your water beads. Next time just ask."

"But I don't wanna do this anymore," the girl pouted. "They can't expect us to get all of this done by Saturday!"

"Hey, quit whining," Tidus spoke up, "at least you don't have to spend all of your spare time cooking nut bread and shit. That's all we've done all week in HomeEc! We have to grind our own flour! Do you have any clue what that's like?! How long it takes?! And all of the classes have been doing it! What do we need this much bread for?! It's like we're trying to feed the whole island and not just the school!"

Sora rolled his eyes chuckling lightly from where he sat braiding the strap for one of his knee bands. Clearly, Tidus was amongst the cracking population. It was probably hard for him. With Yuna being in charge of things for the Water Dance, the two barely had time to see each other during the day anymore.

"You practically will be, right?" Sora offered. "The Demonstration is a huge tourist draw. They're gonna have to have food for the Ta'ilono too."

Tidus paused in pulling at his hair, and looked at Sora a little startled. "Right. The Homage. Forgot about that," he said, tilting his head to the side slightly. Shrugging, he went back to working on his headband, alternating between braiding and popping chips in his mouth. Sora shook his head and returned to his own work, wondering at the things stress could do to ones brain.

The Ta'ilono—or Homage—was a major part of the Harvest Festival. It would last from dawn on Friday until dusk on Saturday. During that time, those who were recognizing the celebration would refrain from eating anything that was not prepared by hand and made from ingredients from the land. That meant that there was a lot of traditional Paopuan food in the works, giving students the chance to not only experience that element of their heritage, but also learn to make dishes themselves, thus passing the knowledge on.

The time period represented how long their ancestors once had to work in order to harvest their crops and store food for the colder season. The people of the islands would labor for two days straight with little to no rest, and then at dusk on the second day, they would celebrate, feasting on a portion and preserving the remainder for storage. The whole point of having students do a fair portion of the work for the Ta'ilono was to remind them of the importance of the land and the gifts it gave them. Clearly that part had gone over Tidus' head.

Sora was pulled out his thoughts when a sudden weight landed in his lap, uncomfortably close to crushing certain vital points of his anatomy. He looked down to find Riku's head lying against one of his thighs.

"Anyone who bothers me, dies," Riku informed the universe at large, eyes already closed. "I'm sleeping here for the next three weeks."

Sora opened his mouth to protest, but was halted by a raised finger pointed at him with uncanny accuracy by the teen in his lap.

"That includes you, Sora," he was told. "Just be quiet like a good pillow."

"What's his problem?" Roxas asked Sora, who was smiling bemusedly down at the older boy.

"Culture School kids get out of class today to work on preparations for the weekend," he said, setting his work aside with a long suffering sigh to run fingers through Riku's hair. "I'm guessing they're running you all ragged?"

Riku nodded, eyes closed and turning into Sora's touch. "Mowgli's on a warpath." He opened his eyes, groaning as the bell rang, looking at Sora desperately. "Don't make me go back."

"Sorry, Riku," Sora told him, shifting to stand and forcing Riku to roll off of him. "Much as I would love to go defend your right to be a lazy-ass, I bet the work is actually pretty good for you?"

Riku glared, getting to his feet walking with Sora as the brunet waved goodbye to the others.

"Calling me lazy," he grumbled. "Now you're starting to sound like Axel. Did Roxas get that cleared up yet, by the way?" he asked, shoving his hands in his pockets, looking mildly put-out.

"No," Sora said, smiling slightly as he slipped a hand into Riku's pocket too, questing his fingers about the overly large space. "Axel's just as busy as you are today. Apparently they'll be talking at lunch or something." He smirked as Riku jumped after a playful squeeze to the thigh from Sora's still questing fingers.

"Guess, we'll find out what happens then," Riku murmured, smiling slightly now at Sora's teasing touch.

"Guess so," Sora returned. He watched as Riku looked around the area as if debating, and then finally dropped a very quick peck of a kiss on Sora's lips. He backed off, running a hand through his hair, trying to act nonchalant even as a blush covered his cheeks.

"Real smooth, Riku," Sora snorted, rolling his eyes at the other boy's behavior while grinning broadly. Riku was apparently a little shy about PDA. "I'm sure no one noticed that."

Riku shot him a withering glare. "Where will you be for fourth period, not that I care?" he asked, stepping back over to Sora.

"Auditorium, working on set up stuff," the brunet told him. "Why?"

"Because I'm gonna come hang-out with you for a little bit before lunch," Riku grinned down proudly, catching Sora's fingers and tangling them with his own. "Gotta put my temporary freedom to good use, right?"

Sora smiled at the gesture, looking down at their joined hands, a warm feeling spreading through his chest. Even if it was temporary, even if separation was bound to happen…at least they had this. At lest they had now.

"Cool. I guess I'll see you then." He pressed his lips together, noting the thinning crowds and realizing that he would need to be getting into his class soon. Rolling his eyes at how stupid he was being, he stood up on his toes and planted a hurried kiss on Riku's cheek. Calling a quick goodbye over his shoulder, he made his way to his Science class, willing the blush away from his face. It was time to find out what Jim had planned for them today.

-:- -:- -:-

And so the day progressed, a scattered few bedraggled students continuing in perpetual haste to complete various errands and then get more to do. Many classes had lessons that were in some way focusing on the upcoming Saturday, and unbeknownst to most, a pair of friends were almost peeing their pants as they tried to save themselves from burning death in Science class.

Riku sighed, wiping his sweating brow as he made his way towards the auditorium at the end of third period. He had been running all over the school for the entire hour, carrying things from class to class, checking in on one project or another, conferring with Mowgli to find out if anything else needed to get done.

He'd been psyched about getting out of class when he'd first heard about it—what self-respecting teenager wouldn't be?—but now, the thought of zoning out while teachers talked at him was incredibly appealing. Anything would be better than running literally all over campus the way that he was now. At least he'd be able to spend the whole next period with Sora. That would be cool.

It was a new experience for Riku to think that way. He had never felt that way about anyone before. Axel, Wakka and that crowd were cool, but generally speaking, he never found himself wanting to seek out their company. That wasn't to say that he didn't like hanging out with them all, it was just that he also valued his privacy. He needed time to himself sometimes.

With Sora it was different. He didn't mind sharing his time with the other boy. Sora could be a pain sometimes, but he was also a really good listener, someone who could appreciate the value of silence, and just someone that Riku wanted to be around. Sora could pull a smile out of him no matter what his mood, make him blush without even trying…he really was something special.

That's why it was so frustrating that Sora had been dealt such a raw deal with the things he had to put up with. Just when it had seemed like he was starting to cope with everything that had been piled in his lap, this insurance thing had to come along.

If Riku really let himself think about it, the situation wasn't as horrible as it seemed. Much as Sora wanted to believe that his mother was getting better, there was a strong probability that she would not improve, so moving her in the end probably wouldn't make a huge difference. If they did find a place for her on the mainland, that would mean that Sora would have to move there to live with his aunt. No more living alone, no more part-time jobs, maybe a shot at the life of a normal teenager.

Unfortunately, that would also mean moving away from everything he'd ever known…and also giving up on Blitzball. Riku knew how much playing meant to Sora. Even with all of the crap that had gone down since the year began, it was clear that the small brunet loved the sport with everything in him. There were other teams on the mainland, but Blizball was an expensive sport for any school to have. There was no way Sora and his aunt would be able to afford to send him to a school with a Blitzball team, and that would mean letting go of that dream. Giving that up—giving up any of the things he'd worked so hard for—would not be easy, but…

Would it be better in the long run? Could Sora be happier if he had fewer responsibilities to deal with?　　Riku wasn't sure. He didn't want Sora to go, but it if meant that life could get a little easier for the other boy, Riku didn't think he could allow himself to hope for things to stay the same.

"You're thinking so hard it's making my head hurt."

Riku jumped slightly when Kairi's voice suddenly broke into his thoughts.

"Woah, Kairi," he said with a small, sheepish smile. "What are you doing out of class?"

"Startling you apparently," she giggled lightly. "What's got you thinking so hard?"

Riku hesitated. He knew that Sora and Kairi were close, but he wasn't sure how much of the current situation he was allowed to tell. Kairi solved that problem by continuing a beat later.

"What else would you be thinking about," she said more to herself than anything. "Sora, right? I'm guessing that you know about the drama he called me about at midnight last night?"

"His mom," Riku confirmed, stopping by the corner of C Building where Sora's science class was.

"His mom," Kairi repeated. Somehow, when she said it, the word took on a completely different weight and meaning. In the time that Riku had been spending with Sora's friends, he'd managed to make a fairly solid connection with Kairi. She was an interesting girl. When she wanted to be, she could be just as bubbly and air-headed as most of the other females her age that Riku knew, but there was more to Kairi than that. She was smart, observant, took notice of things that others didn't, and Riku found that he liked that unexpected element in her.

"Nothing new there," she sighed, leaning against the wall beside him. "This is going to sound terrible, but sometimes I wish that she had just gone ahead and died after Sora's dad did."

Riku immediately tensed at this, flashes of his own mother's last days and funeral coming to mind.

"How can you even think that?" he asked coolly, his like for the girl falling several points. Kairi didn't seem to mind the sudden ice that was between them.

"I know, Riku," she told him, and her voice was far more tired than anyone's her age had a right to be. "If Sora ever heard me say that, I don't think he would ever forgive me, but that doesn't make it any less true.

"There are times when I think I hate her for everything that she's put him through. I mean, I know it's not really her fault, but it's just…it's not fair that she left him alone like this. He's been obsessed with seeing her better ever since she got sick. Obsessed will being stronger, being better so that when she came home, he could be the perfect son for her."

Riku listened in silence to her words, taking them in. He could feel the anger in her; the defensive frustration of a friend who has been forced to watch someone she care about suffer for far too long. The momentary anger he'd felt towards her had faded, and he found himself opening to what she had to say; absorbing this side of Sora that he would probably never get out of the boy himself.

"Did you know that he blamed himself?" Kairi asked, turning to look at him with eyes that were beginning to glisten with tears. "We were little kids, Riku. Nine years old, and when he came back to school all he could talk about, when he talked at all, was how his mom went away because he wasn't good enough. How if he could do better, be a better son, maybe then she would love him enough to come back to him."

She paused then either gathering her thoughts or letting her words sink in. Riku wasn't sure which, but he was glad for the respite. His mind and heart were throbbing with that image, a tiny Sora, barely old enough to be aware of a world outside of his mother and father, struggling to find a way to get his mom back. Trying to understand why both of his parents had suddenly gone away.

"I think that there's part of him that still thinks like that. He's so strong and responsible and amazing, yes, but in a lot of ways, he's still just that kid waiting for his mom to come and make everything all right again. He never really dealt with the loss of his father, never really accepted the loss of his mother… Sometimes, I just think that if she had died, he could have moved on.

"As things are, he's stuck Riku, hanging between the life he hopes she can give back to him and the life he should be leading. Everything he does comes back to her somehow. You know his situation, how ridiculous it is what he's doing to himself, and for what?! The half-hope that the woman who didn't see fit to stay strong for the sake her only son will come back to him? So that he would have to likely take care of her for the rest of her life? It's not right!"

There was a steady stream of tears flowing from her eyes now.

"It's not right," she repeated. "He deserves better than that. More than anyone else, he deserves happiness, and I just don't think he's going to find it where he thinks he will."

"You want him to leave," Riku said, a strange emotion squeezing at his heart. He couldn't quite identify what it was, but he didn't think he liked it.

"I want him to stop torturing himself with false hope and pretending it's ok," she said, voice shaking slightly. "I want him to move on, and if leaving the islands is what it will take to make that happen, then I'll just have to accept that."

Silence fell between them again, broken only by Kairi's quiet sniffles as she got her tears under control. A few minutes passed like that, Riku allowing her words to swirl through his mind, taking on whatever shape they would.

"Why did you tell me all of this?" he asked at length. The bell marking the end of third period rang as soon as the question had left his mouth.

"Because," she said looking down the breeze way, "I'm afraid this might break him." Riku followed her gaze to where Sora was emerging from his room beside another brunet boy, both oddly wet from head to waist. "And you're going to be the one who will have to pick up the pieces."

With that, she placed a hand on his shoulder for a moment, looking up at him with still watery eyes, preparing to leave.

"Take care of him, Riku," she told him solemnly. "I'll rip off your nuts and feed them to you if you don't."

-:- -:- -:-

While Riku went about ensuring that his testes remain where they were originally meant to be, Roxas was doing his best to puzzle out his own scrotum-endangering situation. He probably should have been paying attention in class, but there were other, more troubling things on his mind than whatever aspect of Demonstration prep he was supposed to be working on.

Namine said he was scared. He didn't like the idea of that, no matter how farfetched he insisted it was. Fear was not something that Roxas found acceptable in his life. He got mildly concerned over some things, but he liked to think that he'd transcended real fear, at least in non-life-threatening situations. So what in his life did he have to fear? Namine thought that he was afraid of the way things were changing, but the only major change in his life that he could think of was meeting Sora and trying to help him figure out his situation. That wasn't something to be afraid of, though. Things were a little confusing at the beginning, but as time moved on, they had figured things out.

His relationship with his friends had changed a little, but then that was expected. With the way he and Hayner were fighting at the moment, of course things would be a little different, but once things blew over, they'd be back to normal again. So then, what was the big deal?! He didn't get it at all.

He thought of this all through fourth period, musing to himself as people bustled around him. He remained distracted even after the bell rang, even after he wandered over to Vexen's classroom, even as he entered to find Axel waiting for him, a smug look on his face.

"You're lucky you're special, Roxy," the redhead told him. "I could be napping right now."

Roxas looked around the room, noting the absence of his science teacher. "Vexen know that we're in here?" he asked as he walked further into the room.

"T.A. privileges," Axel shrugged. "He trusts me to be in here alone. It's no problem."

"And if he comes back to find me in here with you?" Roxas asked flatly.

"I'm tutoring you since you're struggling so much with photosynthesis," Axel purred deviously.

"We're not studying photosynthesis, Axel," Roxas returned.

"See?" The junior's smirk widened. "You need all the help you can get."

"Why am I even here?" Roxas muttered to himself in irritation. He turned looking back the way he came wondering if he should just leave. Clearly he wasn't going to be able to have a rational conversation with Axel of all people. The other times they talked the redhead must have been on downers or something…anti-evil pills.

"You're the one who wanted to talk, Roxy," Axel sang back, and Roxas had to sigh. He walked over to where Axel was standing and sat down on the desk beside him. There was no getting around this so he figured he might as well get it over with.

"Look," he began. "I'm sorry, okay? I was an asshole to you the other night when you were just trying to help. I shouldn't have freaked out like that."

"See, that wasn't so hard now was it?" Axel asked, capturing Roxas in a head lock and mussing his hair.

Roxas growled, fighting his way out of the redhead's grip, still glaring.

"Whatever," he huffed. "Now, since everyone seems to think that you'll be able to help me for some reason, what do you think I should do about Hayner?"

"Well, what do _you_ think you should do about Hayner?" Axel sent back at him and Roxas stood back up and headed for the door.

"Never mind. I don't know why I thought you might actually have something worthwhile to say."

"And there you go running away again, Rox. What is it that you're so afraid of?"

"Why does everyone keep telling me that I'm scared!" Roxas exploded, snapping back to face Axel again. "I'm pissed, I'm irritated. Where's the fear coming in?!?!"

"I think that's the question you should be asking yourself," Axel told him calmly, and there was no hint of teasing in his voice.

"Duh," Roxas shot back, "what do you think I've been doing all this time? I've come up with nothing. I think everyone else is just going mental or something."

"Really now?" Axel asked. He moved towards Roxas, a predatory gleam in his eyes and Roxas found himself backing away nervously. He knew that look, and coming from Axel it never meant good things. "You honestly don't think there's anything that you are a little scared of right now?"

"D-damn straight." Roxas did his best to make the words sound confident, but Axel was closing in on him. Roxas found himself stopping abruptly when he ran into the door behind him, felt his pulse increasing as Axel continued to lean in towards him.

"What are you doing, Axel?" Roxas squeaked out as the older boy continued filling his personal space. Axel's only response was to put his hands on the door at either side of Roxas' head and continue leaning in.

Roxas stared up at him, eyes wide. Axel couldn't be doing what Roxas thought he was doing. That just wouldn't be cool. They were in a classroom for crying out loud! He liked Axel, yeah, but this was…he didn't know if…it was just weird!

Somehow, Roxas couldn't bring himself to raise his hands to resist as Axel's face hovered closer to his, and he felt the other's warm breath brush against his skin. His throat was suddenly dry, all of its moisture apparently rushing to his forehead as there were beads of sweat forming. His eyes focused on slightly chapped lips as they came closer, heart fluttering at the idea of them covering his own, even as his brain twitched at the same thought.

Axel filled his vision, closer and closer. The distance between them dwindled…

Roxas clenched his eyes shut and turned his face away.

He wasn't sure what he had been expecting, but somehow, Axel's soft laughter hadn't been it. He opened his eyes nervously, relaxing slightly when he saw that Axel was backing of to lean casually against the work bench at the front of the room.

"Not afraid of anything, Rox?" he said. "You sure about that?"

Roxas could only blink at the older boy as he tried to get his mind around what had just almost happened.

"You need to figure out what's really bothering you about this situation, Roxas. You need to figure out what you want to happen at the end of all of this between you and Hanyer, you and Sora, and you and me. Until you can understand that, you're not going to be able to make things better with anyone…" Axel stood straight, walked over and rapped him gently on the head. "…_especially_ when it comes to me."

Roxas was left speechless by those words, and he stared mutely, unable to respond, as Axel stepped forward, gently moved him aside and exited the room.

-:- -:- -:-

The rest of the day buzzed by in a flurry of madness. The pressure of the up coming weekend was building for more than one reason for Sora in particular. With all that had happened, he had almost completely forgotten that there was a high likelihood that he would be playing in his first official Blitzball game the next day. It wasn't until he was walking with Riku to practice at the end of the day that it finally really hit him. He had met all of Coach Clayton's conditions. There was no reason that the man could use to keep him out of the game. The thought made him happy, but he still didn't want to put too much hope into the possibility. Not having a reason to keep him out had never stopped Coach before.

Sora woke with the biggest tension headache of his life on Friday morning. Groaning piteously, he rolled out of bed at the insistent pounding on his door. Checking his clock, he couldn't help but mutter a curse under his breath at whoever was waking him half an hour earlier than he usually would have been waking up.

Yawning widely, he made his way to his door to pull it open and glare at the figure on the other side.

"You didn't set your alarm did you?" Riku asked, looking entirely too immaculate for the ungodly hour of 6 a.m.

"What are you doing here?" Sora croaked, stepping back into his apartment to fetch a glass of water and bottle of aspirin.

"We have to be at school early today, Sora. Remember? We'll be shuttling over to the Restoration Site to set up for tomorrow."

Sora sputtered on his water as his brain finally reengaged and informed him of the minor details he had forgotten after work the night before.

"Aw man!" he groaned, scrambling around the mess in his apartment to try and find something to wear so that they could go. "Coach is gonna kill me if I make us late. We still have to pack blitz stuff right?"

Riku nodded, relaxing comfortably by the door, a smirk on his face. The team would be leaving for their blitz game from the Restoration sight, so they would need to take all of their equipment with them and travel together.

"What are you smirking at?" Sora wailed at Riku, finally getting fed up with the way his boyfriend was watching him. "You could be helping me, y'know!?"

"Yeah," Riku said stepping away from the wall towards Sora. He wrapped his arms around the smaller boy and began playing with the hem of his boxers, causing Sora to very quickly become acutely aware of his state of undress. "I was just enjoying the view. But really, Sora. Chip 'n' Dale?"

Sora's face flamed even brighter as he remembered exactly which pair of boxers he'd worn to bed. "Well…" he said chuckling at himself. "It works out right? A chipmunk for each cheek."

To Sora's great delight, this earned him a rare bark of laughter out of Riku who promptly engulfed him in a hug and nipped playfully at his nose.

"Not into bestiality, babe. Hurry up and get dressed."

Sora made a face at the implication and light smack on his rear that accompanied it, but backed off to do as Riku said. At least they would be riding together. That would mean that they wouldn't be too late, especially if Riku chose to ignore some of the…less vital traffic laws.

Sora had all of his things together from the night before so it really was just a matter of him getting dressed so that they could leave. The headache was already fading and the tension in his body was striving very hard to give way to the pleasant buzz of excitement. There was still a very large shadow looming over everything that he did, but he was determined not to let it bother him. Rinoa said that she would take care of trying to figure out alternatives and that Sora should focus on school and taking care of himself, and Sora intended to do just that.

"Alright, let's go!" he said running out of the bathroom after an abridged version of his morning cleaning ritual. Riku was just behind him closing the door and allowing Sora to lock it before they both set out together. Sora couldn't help but think that there was something very wonderful about the moment. He could definitely get used to leaving the house with someone else by his side rather than always doing it alone.

-:- -:- -:-

The rest of the day was as insane as expected. Students were running all over the villages setting up items and preparing booths. The HomeEc classes had done their work well and there was tons of food for everyone to eat so that they could keep their energy up.

It seemed that Hayner and Roxas were finally able to share the same space without trying to kill each other, both being to harried about getting their assignments done to bother with remembering to be pissed. Roxas seemed also to be spending a lot of time in pensive thought as he worked, taking on some repetitive task and getting lost in it easily.

He and Axel were getting along again, as well, despite the fact that there was now a strange tension between them that hadn't been there before their argument. Even still, it didn't stop them from working together. They were teasing and laughing through the full rehearsals of the dance performances for the following night, and on more than one occasion could be seen conversing quietly as they worked together on one thing or another.

And then of course, there was Sora and Riku. Anyone who hadn't know that they were together before would have had to be completely blind, deaf, and living in a hole to not notice it by the end of the day. To Sora's slight chagrin, Riku had pretty much decided to attach himself to the smaller boy for the entire day. There were few times that the two couldn't be seen together, and it was clear to all who saw it that there was more to their 'friendly roughhousing' than strictly friendship.

It wasn't a shock to most, and those who were not entirely comfortable with it just rolled their eyes and continued on with their business for the most part. Mainly, those who knew the two boys were amazed at how much each of them had changed since meeting the other.

The last of the dress rehearsals for the final performance at the end of the Demonstration ended at 2:50, just in time for the Blitzball players among the dancers to hurry off to their bus to head out for the game scheduled for that afternoon. Sora found himself sitting in a seat beside Riku, surrounded by the loud voices of his teammates as they made their way to Traverse High, across the island.

"You doing okay there, kitten?" Meg asked turning around to lean over the seat in front of Sora. "You're looking a little green around the gills."

"He's just anxious to kick some ass in his first game, right Sora?" Sora smiled weakly at Wakka, who smacked a companionable hand on his shoulder, doing his best to hold down his lunch. All he could manage by way of response was to slouch down, lifting his knees to wedge comfortable between his torso and the seat in front of him.

The team seemed to realize that he needed some space and proceeded to back off, leaving him with a slightly worried Riku to look over him.

"You gonna be ok?" the older boy asked, bumping him gently with an elbow.

"Yeah," Sora sighed, "I guess there's just part of me that doesn't think that this can possibly go well. Everything else has been so screwed up lately, why should this be any different?"

"Hey there, Emo Boy," Riku joked as he slouched down to try to fold his taller, broader frame to mirror the smaller boy's position. "What the hell did you do with, Sora? I had plans for him tonight."

"Plans like what?" Sora asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Like bringing you home with me so that I can have my wicked way with you, duh."

Sora eyed Riku as if he had just started bleeding green. "And when did Sora agree to that?"

"Just now?" Riku looked at Sora with the most hopeful puppy face he could muster and Sora couldn't help but chuckle at him a bit. "C'mon, it doesn't make sense for you to go all the way back to your place when I'm just gonna come and pick you up in the morning anyway. My dad and brothers'll be out late, and I've got a PlayCube with both our names on it."

"Tempting," Sora commented, thinking it over. There really was no reason that he shouldn't spend the night at Riku's place. It did make more sense, and it wasn't like he had anyone he'd have to ask permission from.

"I guess…" Sora sighed dramatically. "But you have to promise to feed me."

"Naturally. My dad has us all stocked up with organic everything so our house is totally Homage ready." Riku shot him a warm smile, crossing his arms uncomfortably over his chest. "How the heck do you sit like this, anyway? It hurts like hell."

Sora burst into laughter.

-:- -:- -:-

A little under an hour later, the Blades of Paopuan National were warming up in the tank belonging to the Bells of Traverse High. They had unloaded their things out of the team's trailer that accompanied them to away games, and after suiting up, they were led to the arena where they would be facing off with the other team.

Once in the water, Sora felt far more comfortable and confident. He was still tired and could still feel the effects of stress on his body, but the water served to wake him up considerably, and it felt good to allow himself to fall into the familiar routines. Pushing all outside thoughts away in favor of focusing on the game, he thought on what this game would mean. This was his chance to finally get to do what he had been waiting to do all year…

Blitzball.

Real Blitzball; his blood sped in his veins just thinking about it.

The last of his anxiety melted away as Coach Clayton announced the starting line: Wakka as Midfielder, with Meg and Sora as his Forwards. Mulan as Goalkeep and Hayner and Roxas on defense. The team wondered at what their coach was thinking. Based on their performance in practice, there was no way that the two should be teamed together again yet, but before entering the tank, he left them with a few parting words.

"I've noticed that some of you may be having your differences outside of the game," he said, and there was no doubt that he was talking to the two defenders. "I'd like to remind you, however, that there is no room for outside conflicts in this arena. As coach Auron is so keen to remind you, this is not a toilet. You would all do well to remember it."

Sora was fairly impressed with the words. They weren't particularly harsh, but had the hard edge of truth. It was times like that that he was reminded that there was a reason that Clayton had been hired. He was, after all, supposedly, a good Coach in most respects…he just needed to take a bit of his own advice and not bring his proverbial shit into the tank.

With that being said, the starting line headed to the entry area while the rest of the team moved to their observation box. As the rest of the locker room cleared Sora was stopped before he could head up the stairs with the others.

"Holani, a word," Coach Clayton drawled at him, and the look on the man's face quickly banished any positive feelings he might have had about the game that was about to happen. Riku paused at the exit, meeting Sora's eyes with a hint of concern, but Sora just waved him off, heading over to see what Clayton wanted.

"What's up, Coach?" he asked as lightly as he could. The words were met with a dark glower.

"Let us not put on pretenses, Mr. Holani," Clayton began without preamble. "Despite your other failings, I do not believe you to be a complete imbecile."

Sora's heart was in his throat immediately. All he could do was stare wide-eyed as his coach towered over him menacingly.

"You know that I don't like you or your kind. In the past, such travesties have been overlooked by weaker coaches in charge of this team, but that ends here."

Sora couldn't believe it. He'd figured that the Coach had negative feelings towards him, but he had never imagined that he would be cornered and singled out like this. Just what he needed before his first big game. He could already feel himself reacting to the verbal attack; heart pounding, head spinning slightly, muscles tensing. He really couldn't deal with this right now.

"You may have gotten the pity of Auron and some of your other instructors," Clayton pressed on, "and that is the only reason you will be seeing any time in the water at all, but I know your type. You seem impressive when you're being coddled by all of your friends in practice, but I know you will choke in true game play. You will fail out there today," Clayton purred, a hateful smugness showing on his face, "and when you do, there will be no reason for anyone to question my coaching ability again. Enjoy the time while you can, Mr. Holani. This will be the first and last official game you ever play."

Sora stood rooted in place as Clayton left the locker room. A few moments later he heard footfalls, and he was only partially surprised when Riku's voice spoke up.

"Sora? What did he want?"

A kind of…fatigue fell over Sora then. He was just so tired of everything. He didn't want to have people worrying over him, didn't want people hating him over nothing. He just didn't want to deal with the mess that just kept piling up.

"It was nothing, Riku," he sighed turning his back on the older boy and making his way to the entry area. He was going to be late to the blitz-off if he didn't hurry. "Let it go. I'll see you after the first period."

Sora didn't even look back as he dragged himself up the stairs.

-:- -:- -:-

"What the hell did you say to him?" Riku snarled at Clayton, almost shaking in his fury. The first period of the game was almost over, but Riku had known from the start that something was off.

There was a groan from the team in the box, and Riku looked over to see Sora scrambling after yet another pass that he had apparently missed. The ball was snagged by the other team, and Riku watched, with aching heart, as Sora tried again to get back in the game. The smaller boy was just not playing up to his usual speed. His performance, so far, in the tank had been down right embarrassing, and Riku knew that it had to have something to do with the "word" Clayton had with him before the game began.

"What's the matter, boy?" Clayton drawled smugly. "Can't handle the fact that I was right about your little boyfriend?"

If it wouldn't have earned him a likely expulsion from school, Riku would have happily decked his coach for the way he had spat out that last word.

"You're an asshole, Clayton," Riku said in dangerous tones as the buzzer marking the end of the first period of the game sounded. "And asshole and a bastard, and I'm going to do everything in my power to see you fired for this shit."

He threw the man a cocky smirk, reveling in the small twitch of uncertainty on Clayton's face. Everyone knew that Riku's father had a lot of influence on the island, so the words were no idle threat. The silver-haired teen knew that he had the man cornered.

"It figures you'd go running to 'Daddy' when you don't get your way," Clayton cooed after him. "Go ahead, young man. I can't be fired for being correct."

The glare Riku sent over his shoulder was laced with poison, and he turned quickly to join the rest of the team in the locker room for the short break. He kicked himself for not moving faster as he heard raised voices coming from ahead.

"What hell were you doing out there!?" Graav was screaming. "I don't even know why Coach let you in the same field as the rest of us! You're an embarrassment to this sport, you fuckin' piece of shit."

"I told you once, Graav to leave him alone. You won't get another warning." The voice was Roxas', and Riku was relieved that there was someone looking out for Sora while his wasn't there.

The sight he saw when he came into the room was enough to set him seething once again. Sora, who usually would be one his feet facing off with anyone who tried to mess with him, simply sat, still and defeated. The rest of the team was focusing too much on the fight that was about to ensue between Roxas and Graav to notice, but Riku could see the small tremors moving through Sora's body as he sat there taking the abuse. That was enough.

"Back off."

All heads turned to the doorway at the ice in Riku's voice when he spoke. He could only imagine what he looked like to the others. On his happy days, his glares could clear stadiums. At that moment, anyone would have to be a complete idiot to get in his way as he walked to Sora and pulled the younger boy to his feet.

He steered them to the shower room where they could have a little privacy, silence echoing in their wake, and it wasn't until there was a door between them and the rest of the team that Riku forced Sora to look up at him. He swore at the dead look in those usually bright eyes.

"Sora…"

"I can't, Riku," Sora said before Riku could even get any words out. "I don't know what I was thinking. Coach is right. I have no business playing this sport… I can't go back out there."

Riku stared at Sora for a long moment, studying the boy's face. He looked older somehow, more tired than Riku had ever seen him. This wasn't Sora. This wasn't the determined, surprisingly confident kid he'd gotten to know over the past months. Riku didn't know who this was standing there looking so fragile.

"So that's all it took."

Sora looked up at him, startled as Riku spoke into the silence.

"I don't know what Clayton said to you, but it looks like whatever it was was all it took to break you. I thought you were stronger than that, Sora."

Riku could see the indignant fury building in the small brunet, and he smiled cockily giving a small nod of satisfaction. That was the Sora he knew finally waking back up to burn away the doubt that was smothering him.

"I'll go tell the others that you quit, then," Riku said, turning to reach for the knob on the door. "I'll just make sure to tell them that all of the faith they put in you was wasted because you're gonna let Clayton prove himself right. If that's what you want Sora, fine. I'll go."

Riku paused, waiting with his hand poised to open the door. If he knew Sora as well as he thought he did…

"You're a terrible actor, Riku."

There was affection in Sora's voice when he spoke and Riku turned to smile at him, happy to see a similar expression pulling at the younger boy's lips.

"But it worked didn't it?" he said, cockily. "You got your head back in the game now?"

Sora nodded confidently, though not with as much energy as he would have in the past. "For all the good it'll do me. I somehow doubt that Coach'll let me back in the tank after how much I screwed up out there."

They were interrupted when a loud rap came at the door.

"C'mon, Sora, you're up again!" came Wakka's muffled voice.

Riku and Sora looked at each other in confusion. It was pretty strange to have players up in consecutive periods. They needed time to rest, Sora hadn't even been traded out at any point during the first period of the game.

Shrugging, Sora gave a tired smile. "I guess I'd better get going then," he said, running a hand through his damp hair before pulling up the mask on his gamesuit. "By half time, I'll have Graav and Coach both eating their words."

"That's more like it," Riku smirked, pulling their heads together for a brief moment before giving Sora a playful smack on the ass. He glared back at Riku, pouting cutely as he made his way out of the shower room. The sophomore sighed, following. He really hoped that Sora would make good on those words.

-:- -:- -:-

"I don't know if he's gonna make it folks but…YES! Another score against the Bells in a spectacular feint by number 15! Bells 8, Blades 7 in this shocking come back!"

Sora accepted the congratulatory pats from his teammates as he recovered from his last sprint. He was tired—beyond tired really—but he'd made it. The move he'd used was the same that had given him his score on Bickson; a tactic he'd mastered and dubbed a 'dodge roll' as it proved to be a rather successful avoidance technique.

After his talk with Riku, he had done a fair job of recovering his playing abilities, managing to catch the passes that came his way and pass the ball on with accuracy. It was the end of the second period now and he had actually managed to score. This did wonderful things for his morale, and Sora was finally beginning to think things would work out after all.

He made his way out of the tank, smiling, along with the others, heading into the locker room for the long break. He had just pulled his mask down when he was grabbed, turned, and found himself on the receiving end of a very thorough kiss. He was too shocked to do anything but stare wide-eyed around at their teammates as Riku nibbled at his bottom lip, (what happened to being embarrassed about PDA?) but then he saw Coach Clayton watching them, seething and slightly green. So that's what this was about.

Smirking slightly, Sora ran his hands over Riku's firm, suit clad body, moaning evocatively and pressing more closely to Riku's larger form, all the while watching Clayton's reaction. The man finally had enough, storming from the room and Sora burst into laughter as he pulled away from Riku. There were others laughing too at the obvious display they had just put on, but Sora realized, with some confusion, that Riku was not one of them.

The older boy was gaping at him, looking slightly dazed.

"Riku, you okay?" Sora asked, still chuckling. It had been Riku's idea, after all. He gave a startled yelp as the other pulled him closer to him again.

"You've never moaned like that for me before," Riku whispered hotly into Sora's ear. "I think I liked it."

Sora could feel his face flaming as he pulled away from Riku again. "Down boy!" he warned, shaking a finger at the taller boy, and Riku responded with a tiny snarl and a feral look. That couldn't mean good things for Sora's virtue. He backed away slowly, as if Riku were a wild animal, but this obviously only sparked the chase instinct in Riku as he stalked forward, right after Sora.

"You'll never take me alive!" Sora crowed, and then dashed away from Riku as quickly as his flippered feet would let him. Riku was happy to give chase as the other Blades burst into laughter and loud cat calls watching them.

-:- -:- -:-

The evening from that point on was generally, a lot of the same. Laughing and smiling and…flirting…lot's of it. From Riku. Sora wasn't really sure what to think about that. Before they had gotten together they had teased each other a bit, but apparently their little show for Clayton had given Riku the idea that he could escalate things, and it filled Sora with a nervous sort of devious glee.

The second half of the game was worlds better than the first. Sora managed to redeem himself in the eyes of his team and the cheering crowd as he scored not once, not twice, but three times over the course of the third period. He'd been pretty well burned out by the fourth, as Clayton had, for whatever reason, decided never to trade him out of the tank, but even then, he just laid low and let the rest of the team handle things. Their victory that day was hard-won, but by far the sweetest to date.

Sora felt light for the first time in a long time as he sat in the front seat of Riku's jeep, letting the wind blow through his now dry hair. Riku had taken him home to pick up what he needed for the Demonstration, and they were now on there way to the Anakhuli residence, as Sora had agreed to earlier.

"So why doesn't your family ever come see you play?" Sora asked, following Riku into his empty home.

Riku shot him an incredulous look, laughing like Sora had just made a joke of some kind. "My family? At a High School Blitzball game? You're serious?"

Sora sent an equally incredulous look right back at him. "Why not? I'd want my parents or brothers to be there to root for me if our situations were switched."

"Yeah, well…" Riku grabbed their bags and headed up stairs to drop them off in his room. Sora was amazed at how homely everything felt in the Anakhulis' house. Far from what he would expect of a billionaire family. Sora hadn't gotten further than the kitchen and dining room the first time he'd been over, but now that he was getting a better look around, he could see that the place looked lived in. Not messy really, but there were signs that people did things in the house as opposed to the sterile, spotless mansion Sora had been envisioning.

"My brothers aren't really into Blitz and they have afternoon classes when we're playing anyway," Riku explained leading the way back down to the kitchen. "My dad's interest in Blitzball stops at me. It's enough for him to donate uniforms and stuff like that if it's needed, but I can't even imagine him sitting in the stands with everyone else's psycho parents."

Sora had a flash of Sephiroth, surrounded by screaming mothers and fathers, a look on his face demanding an explanation for that bullshit, and couldn't help dissolving into laughter.

"See?" Riku said, guessing at what Sora was thinking. "It just doesn't work."

"But still, it doesn't bother you?" Sora asked, settling down to watch as Riku pulled out everything he would need to make them a simple Paopuan dinner, filling himself a glass of water and passing one to Sora as well.

"Not really. I've got enough support in the stands, and they're all there for the other major stuff I do, and in a big way. Did you know that this year's Demonstration is going to have full media coverage?" he asked, measuring flour for what looked like fry-bread batter.

"Yeah, it's because of the whole Restoration Site thing, right?" Sora did remember hearing about that somewhere.

"Nope," Riku chucked. "It's because of my big Fire Dance début."

Sora choked his water. "WHAT?!"

"Yeah," Riku continued. "The Restoration Committee wanted to have it covered because of the location, but there weren't really any takers. That is until my dad stepped in with promises of corporate sponsorship. He doesn't look it, but he's is just as bad as any other parent. He just has the resources to afford a lot more than a hand-held camcorder. The whole event will be covered, but you can grantee that during the Dance, there's gonna be a few cameras trained on my gyrating ass for the whole time."

Sora snorted into his water again.

"What? It's not funny! There's probably gonna be a professional DVD release of it if I know my dad."

At this, the younger brunet dissolved into helpless laugher imagining a DVD cover showcasing only Riku's pelvic area—a stoic, transparent head-shot of Riku overlaying the image—and the insane crowds that would show up to buy it when it was released. The idea was priceless!

"Yeah, you're laughing now…" Riku grumbled, letting the sentence trail off as he set a pan on the stove. Sora knew that he wasn't really upset, though. The almost tender smile on his face was proof of that. Deciding to try something out, Sora slid from his stool and very carefully slipped his arms around Riku from behind. Riku stilled in what he was doing, pausing only for a moment before he turned to wrap Sora fully in a warm comforting embrace.

Sora had never been a particularly touchy person. It wasn't so much that he didn't enjoy human contact, it was just that after he'd moved in with Rinoa, causal contact with others had never gone beyond the little hugs and teasing he occasionally got from his aunt. That was just one more thing he had lost when his father died.

Things were changing now. He realized it the day before with the hesitant hug Riku had given to him. It was funny to him that they could be fine with sucking on each others tongues, but awkward about the side of things that wasn't about raging hormones. Sora wasn't all that comfortable with the idea of depending on another person yet—he'd been taking care of himself for so many years now—but he was learning. Accepting this kind of intimacy was not a sign of weakness. It was ok to touch, ok to hold, and the simple comfort of a hug was something new and profound to Sora's awakening senses.

He inhaled Riku's scent, rubbed his cheek against the bunching fabric of the other boy's shirt and just allowed himself the moment of selfishness. Even if it didn't last, he would take what he could get for as long as he could have it. Things would work out somehow. Sora's heart clenched in his chest as Riku shifted his hold and released a trembling breath full of all the concerns and worries that they both still refused to voice.

Things would work out. Sora would do everything in his power to see to it that they did.

-:- -:- -:-

**A/N:**

Ok, first off, thanks as always to my lovely beta **Lokotei**! Love you Beckers! Next:

**Chapter Notes:**

"this is not a toilet" – a long time ago, I had Auron come out with the line, "The tank ain't a toilet. Leave your shit outside." I rather like it so I brought it back ^__^

The Demonstration – Will be next chapter because…well, there's nothing else that can happen between at this point, so I'm safe to say it! Know what's funny? The Cultural "Demonstration" was supposed to be the Cultural "Exhibition." I don't know when, but I traded words somewhere along the line w/o realizing it ^^;

_Paopuan Terms:_

Ta'ilono – (TAH eeLOHno) two-day period of homage to the land.

Thanks for sticking with me guys! And always, thank you to reviewers and those who poke at me on LJ and/or dA. Your words mean sooo so much and keep this story going despite its many stalls.


	15. Ch 12: The Demonstration

Standard Disclaimer: If I draw them all enough, maybe one day they'll be mine…but I'm not holding my breath

**Standard Disclaimer:** If I draw them all enough, maybe one day they'll be mine…but I'm not holding my breath.

**Notes: **Finally! The _frickin'_ Demonstration which I've been trying to get to for the past like, forever. I think it was back in chapter…6(?) that I said it would be coming up next chapter? Oh man…that is hilarious. Sorry for the delay. Next one will prolly be worse as I am moving soon and my life is going to be pretty hectic after I do. This story will be finished; fear not. Just be warned. Life Is happening.

**Warnings:** Gratuitous use of Disney and Square characters, language, at least one homosexual relationship, bigoted ass-holes, semi non-con encounters, made-up culture and language, lots of Blitzball, and general teen awkwardness. Enjoy!

-:-finem-:-

**Life on the Blitz**

**Chapter 1****2****: **

**The Demonstration**

Riku felt…warm. Not quite uncomfortably so, but considerably warmer than he usually did when he woke up in the morning. Ignoring this odd phenomenon, he tried to shift to ease the slight ache he was beginning to feel in his right shoulder only to realize that...he couldn't. There was something keeping his arm firmly in place. Opening his eyes in bleary confusion, Riku set out to find out what was keeping him so immobilized. His sleep-blurred vision was met with...spikes; a whole head full of chestnut spikes.

_Sora._

The previous evening rushed back to memory then. Coming home, making dinner, spending the whole evening with Sora doing a whole lot of nothing at all. There had been a small bit of awkwardness about where Sora should sleep, ending with an agreement that it would be ok if they just shared the bed. They'd started out on separate sides of Riku's full sized mattress. Somehow in the night, they had both apparently migrated. Well...maybe migrate wasn't the right word…

Sora was now splayed out on his stomach, face half buried in a pillow that was clutched to his head with one arm. One of his legs was sticking out over the edge of the bed and Riku realized that the reason he couldn't move his arm was because it had somehow found its way between Sora's head and the pillow that the brunet was clutching. Riku, for his part, also had apparently tried to take up as much space as possible on his bed, leaving him twisted at an odd angle and tangled in his sheets.

Clearly, neither of them was accustomed to sharing a bed.

Riku tried again to free his arm with a bit more success the second time around, but this only led to another interesting discovery. After slipping his arm a few inches out of Sora's grip, he noticed an odd chill come to the spot on his arm where Sora had been laying. Leaning over the sleeping brunet to get a clear view of the younger boy's face, Riku confirmed his suspicions with a slight grimace. That being settled, he pulled his arm from Sora as quickly as he could, causing a startled yelp and a satisfying thump as Sora rolled off the side of the mattress and fell to the carpeted floor below.

"Morning, Sleeping Beauty," Riku sang down merrily, looking over the edge of the bed as Sora lay blinking up at him in dazed confusion.

"What the hell?" came the croaked reply as he clawed his way back onto the bed. Sora clearly wasn't a morning person.

"That was for drooling all over my arm," Riku told him plainly as he wiped spittle from his bicep with one of his sheets. "I don't remember that being apart of this whole dating agreement."

It was apparently too early for him to deal with Riku's banter because Sora simply rolled his eyes and face planted back into the pillows. He was snoring softly again in seconds. Riku looked down at him, mildly put-out from being so blatantly ignored, but he shrugged it off. Sora probably had the right idea anyway. They still had a little bit of time before they had to get up and over to the Restoration Site to get ready for the day…

…or so he thought.

"RIIIIKUUU!"

Just as he was drifting off again, the very familiar sound of firm footsteps could be heard marching down the hall outside his door, and there was no mistaking that voice. Riku groaned into his pillow bare seconds before his door burst open admitting his far too early rising trio of brothers.

"Rise and shine, baby brother!" Kadaj crowed as Riku cracked open an eye to glare at him. Loz and Yazoo were both there of course, but all three of them went suddenly still and silent, mouths slightly ajar for reasons that were far beyond Riku's still sleep addled brain.

"And what have we here?" Yazoo drawled, breaking the silence as a positively evil grin split his face.

Riku shot them a scrutinizing glance before looking over at the slumbering Sora beside him. The three older Anakhulis had been out late the night before. Riku and Sora had gone to bed before they'd gotten home so they had no clue Sora would be there. Both he and his boyfriend were dressed only in t-shirts and boxers, and Sora's shorts had shifted considerably in his sleep. Still, there was nothing remotely suggestive about the situation as far as Riku was concerned, but he knew his brothers…

"Why, guys…" Loz began in watery tones, "I do believe our little Reeky-pooh is growing up right before our eyes." After which, Kadaj gave a loud catcall and that was the start of it.

The three men descended upon Riku's bed, dragging an unsuspecting Sora out of his sleep for the second time that morning.

"I do hope you were gentle with him…"

"…doesn't look it, but Riku is a bit of a delicate blossom…"

"…remembered to use protection…"

"…probably a bit rough the first time, but it'll get better…"

"…position did you try? I could probably…"

"YOU GUYS!? WHAT THE FUCK?!" Riku bellowed, beyond mortified at his brothers' behavior. Silence rang through the room in the aftermath of his outburst, and his three older brothers just stared at him in confusion.

"What?" they asked as one, and Riku could swear he could feel the vein at his temple ready to pop.

"Out," he growled, crawling from his bed over a still dazed Sora. "Out of my room! I don't want to see your faces again until it's time to go!"

Riku shoved his brothers back out into the hall and slammed the door in their smirking faces. He glared at the door when he heard all three of them burst into laughter before their footsteps vanished back down the hall. He sighed in relief.

"Uh…what just happened?" Sora asked, climbing out of bed and stretching.

"That," Riku began as he ran a hand through sleep tussled hair, "is what happens when my brothers get together. When Kadaj is gone, Loz and Yaz are kind of a pain, but usually pretty mellow. For some reason though, whenever Kadaj visits, they all go nuts. Don't ask me why, that's just how it's always been."

"Do I even want to know what they were like back on the mainland?" Sora asked with a stretch and a yawn.

"No you don't. Let's just say that there was more than one reason why this move was necessary in our father's eyes."

Sora blanched at that but followed it up with a quirk of a smile. "Still," he began, "it's cool that you guys are so close."

"I guess," Riku said walking over to his dresser to grab his things for the day. "Honestly, sometimes I feel like the one that got left behind. Don't get me wrong," he continued at Sora's raised brows. "They look out for me and everything, but just with the gap in years between us, I guess it's a little harder for them to relate to me than it is for them to relate to each other."

Sora nodded, climbing out of bed to squat next to his bag of belongings. "I get that," he said pulling out his garb for the day. "I guess my parents were kind of like that, too. Like…I was totally important to them and everything, but sometimes when we were all together, it seemed like I was in their way or something."

"Yeah," Riku agreed with a weird little smirk, "like that."

Sora rolled his eyes at how smarmy they were being so early in the morning, and continued getting ready. A quick check of his watch told him that it was the ungodly hour of 5:45 a.m. They would have to be out the door by 6:00 for them to get to the Restoration Site by 6:30 for set-up. There was still quite a bit of work to do at the site itself before guests began arriving at 10:00.

With a sigh, Sora pulled out his wrap and sandals along with the sleeveless tee that had been handed out to all students as part of their uniform for the day. The top half wasn't exactly traditional Paopuan fair, but the bright yellow made it easy to identify students. With the number of confused tourists that would be going through the villages during Demonstration day, that tended to take top priority.

The two boys dressed quickly, chatting and laughing as they bumbled around Riku's room making sure they had all of their stuff together. They made it to the kitchen by 5:51, grabbing a couple of pieces of fruit to tide them over until they got to the Site. Food would be provided for all students all day.

Riku glared at Kadaj who sat at the breakfast nook in full Paopuan regalia…eating a bowl of Flaky-Os.

"Y'know, 'Daj," Riku growled snatching the box from his brother and shoving them back into the cabinet, "if you're going to pretend to actually care about what this whole day is really about, the least you could do is try to stick to the customs."

"What?" Kadaj asked through a mouthful of cereal, "I was hungry. Besides…" This time he swallowed before continuing. "I know what this day is really about. It's about my baby brother's big stage début. I mean I flew all the way from Midgar to see your stuff, brother. The least you can allow me is decent food."

Riku rolled his eyes turning to Sora. "As you can see, not everyone in this family shares my ideas about our mother's heritage."

"Of course I care about our mother's heritage!" Kadaj said in insulted tones. As if timed, Loz and Yazoo chose that moment to hurry back into the kitchen, both also in full Paopuan garb, toting a pair of GutBurger bags. Kadaj smiled broadly as he accepted his breakfast value meal turning to Riku who was slowly pounding his head against the refrigerator door. "That's why I'm only using the freshest preserves for my Mornin' Muffin today."

-:- -:- -:-

Paopuan National High School's Annual Cultural Demonstration Day had finally, officially arrived. It felt, to Sora, like it had taken at least a year for them to finally get to that point. The morning had started with a fair number of surprises and Sora found that he was actually enjoying them for the most part. First were those two rather…abrupt wake-up calls in Riku's room. It was funny how it wasn't even weird to him to think about sharing a bed with the other boy. It's not like they were going to do anything anyway.

Next in line of unexpected occurrences was the trio of idiots also known as Riku's brothers. All three were wearing matching wraps around their waists as well as one of the more popular Paopuan style shirts—over one shoulder, fitted at the chest and hanging loose at the bottom, exposing abs as they moved. The three seemed to treat the whole day as some kind of bizarre holiday and took every opportunity they could to poke fun at Riku to Riku's great irritation.

All things considered, Sora just found them amusing. He didn't expect everyone to take matters of culture seriously, and it really was their loss if they chose to ignore this particular aspect of their background. He just sat back and did his best to keep up whenever they tried to egg him into the conversation.

The third shock of the day was their transportation to the restoration site. In the case of most students, they would be doing the usual shuttle process as they had been doing for the past week. There was only one moderate sized parking lot at the Restoration Site, an attempt to decrease the amount of vehicle traffic as much as possible. It would defeat the purpose of restoring the area if they only paved over everything for the sake of parking. So instead, visitors were shuttled in by a series of buses that came from all over the island.

The Demonstration was meant to be an all day experience. Visitors would be grouped and guided for the entirety of their time at the Site so there wasn't a need for more than a bus to drop them off and a bus to pick them up. Of course, special members of the community could be excused from this rule. Sora really shouldn't have been as shocked as he was…he was traveling with Sephiroth and his family after all. Still…

…it was his first time ever in a real limousine.

The next surprise for the morning came in the form of an unexpected speech from Tidus' father just before the first buses of guests would be arriving. Set-up was done, everything was in place and the school was gathered under the large eating area for one final pep talk before they went off to their separate assigned locations.

"You all have worked hard to get to today," Mowgli said, standing on the central stage. "Guests will be arriving shortly, but before they do, I'd like to invite Mr. Jecht Mihana to the stage to offer a few words."

Sora looked over at Tidus who was a few seats over from him, chatting with Yuna even as his father made the walk to the stage. Voices murmured in speculation as Jecht stepped onto the stage.

"Some of you are probably wondering what this is all about," he began with a small chuckle, "Hell, I'm sure that's what all of you are thinking out there." There was a loud clearing of throat from somewhere off stage and Mr. Mihana had the decency to look slightly abashed at his bad language in front of so many impressionable youths.

"Right, sorry," he began again. "Well, as many of you know, I retired my gamesuit this year and stepped away from professional Blitzball. What does this have to do with today? Well," he paused, looking out at the crowd and thinking for a moment before he spoke again.

"Tidus, son" he said suddenly, "could you come up here for a second?"

Sora watched as Tidus practically fell out of his seat at the sudden attention. Sora could guess why. In his years of knowing Tidus, he'd had the chance, on one or two occasions, to hear from his friend just how strained his relationship with his dad could be at times. Apparently Jecht was fairly critical of his son when it came to Blitz. There were times when Tidus admitted that he didn't know if his dad thought he was living up to the family name. It looked like Tidus was the most surprised of all at his father's words.

"Come on, son," Jecht encouraged, and Tidus hurried his steps, hopping on stage to stand beside his father.

"When I look out at this group," he began again, "I see a little bit of my son in all of your faces." He turned his attention to Tidus then. "I know I don't always act like it son, but I hope you know that you and your mother are the most important things in my life. I'm glad I've been able to provide you all the opportunities I have, and I know that you are going to be one of the best Blitzers out there someday. You're already well on your way. I'm proud of you, son."

Tidus blushed and broke into a huge grin at the praise, turning his face away from his father in an attempt to hide his blush. Jecht chuckled at him, patting him firmly on the shoulder before returning his attention to the crowd. "This community has been a major part of our lives. I love this island. I love our people. I see you all as a part of my extended family. That's why I want all of you to be the first to know what I've been doing with my newly liberated time." Faces turned again, all curious about what this news could be.

"Blitzball is a major event in our islands. We may not have been the originators, but I believe we have taken this sport elevated it to something greater than its founders could have ever dreamed of. We take our families to these games, encourage our kids to play, come together in unity to celebrate all that is inherent in good, fair sportsmanship. I am a better man for the time I've spent playing this noble game, and now, it's my turn to pass on the torch.

"I've listened to my son speak of the amazing players he's come across over the years, all of the potential that exists in these islands. I realize, however, that not all of the players here have the opportunities that I can offer my boy. There is talent here just waiting to be developed if only the right opportunity were to come by. That is just what I plan to give.

"I would like to announce today, the first annual Blitzball Stars of the Future trials to be held just before the beginning of spring training season. I will be gathering many of the colleagues and associates I have encountered over the years to come and observe the players of our islands. They have eyes for talent and the resources to provide young players exactly what they need in order to grow. More details will be released as the date approaches, but I just wanted you all to hear it first. Thank you."

With that, Jecht guided a somewhat shell shocked Tidus off stage in the deafening silence of the equally shell shocked audience. No one, it seemed, knew how to respond to that news. After a moment, Mowgli appeared on stage again, walking sedately to the mike.

"Good luck today, everyone. Get to your locations."

And that was that. The spell was broken and excited voices began speaking all over the place. Not everyone was a Blitzball player, but almost everyone loved the sport and knew at least one person who they thought could make it big one day. The actual Blitzball teams, of course, were in a state of euphoric apoplexy.

"Holy cripes," Sora muttered to himself, turning to look at a smiling Riku.

"I guess that's one way to put it," the older boy chuckled. Both of their attention was pulled to the left where an excessively excited Hayner and Roxas were screaming and jumping at each other, freezing mid high-five when they realized that they were still supposed to be fighting.

"I give those two another day," Riku muttered dropping an elbow lazily on Sora's shoulder. The brunet snorted.

"I say they won't last to the end of the Demonstration," Sora retuned. Riku gave him a shrewd look before giving a slight nod.

"You're on," he declared with a smirk.

"What?!" Sora yelped. "I wasn't being serious!"

"Too late." Riku's smirk only grew as he watched the smaller boy's distress. "You challenged my omniscience, I accepted. You can't back out now."

"I never agreed to this!"

"If you forfeit, I automatically win," Riku told him, grin taking on a distinctly more evil glint. "You have to do whatever I say for the next twenty-four hours."

"Not on your life, asshole," Sora shot back. "What, are we back is preschool all of a sudden?"

"Fine, then it's a bet. You win, and I become your devoted love-slave for a day," both looked up in surprise at a sudden wolf-whistle given by an overhearing passer-by. Riku shook his head and continued. "If I win, you are mine for a day."

Sora glared. Riku continued grinning.

"Fine," Sora decided. "I'll take that bet, but only so that I can wipe that cocky grin off your face."

"I know another way that you can get this grin off." Riku's expression took on much leerier qualities as he leaned in closer to Sora.

"Pervert," Sora said, merrily placing a hand over Riku's face as he moved in for the kiss. Sora's eyebrows shot into his hair when he felt Riku's tongue run over the skin on his palm. The sophomore was definitely not one to be deterred.

"Only when it comes to you," Riku purred, giving a small nip to the fleshy mound at the base of Sora's thumb.

Sora, for his part, immediately shot his attention around the area to see if anyone was watching them. He wasn't exactly excited to have the entire school witnessing how flushed he had become, because said flush was purely from embarrassment and irritation. It had nothing at all to do with how unexpectedly pleasant it felt to have Riku's mouth exploring his hand.

To his surprise, there were not very many people still lingering about the lunch area, and that reminded Sora that he needed to get half way across the complex to his station in one of the villages of Solace Island.

"Crap!" he hissed, pulling his hand away and wiping it on his wrap. "I've gotta go. People are going to be here in a few minutes."

"Yeah," Riku sighed. "I need to go check in with Mowgli and get my equipment."

Sora gave him a weird look. "What kind of equipment?" he asked.

"Two-way radio and head-set," he supplied. "I'm on runner duty for my first shift today."

"Right." Sora nodded, remembering having talked about where they both would be located during the Demonstration at some point. Riku would be running around troubleshooting for any snafus that popped up.

They stood from their seats and started walking. "You should swing by Solace if you get the chance," Sora told him. "I can show you how to make a grass whistle."

"Riiiight," Riku replied with an expression that clearly questioned Sora's ideas of entertainment. "That'll only happen if your whistles start setting huts on fire. I somehow doubt I'm gonna have very much down time during this shift." It was true. He remembered horror stories from the previous year for people with his job. "I can swing by after though. I'm done at noon."

"Cool," Sora told him. "I'm done at one and then I have my lunch break."

"After lunch?"

"I'm paddling people over to the smaller island where we camped out last week."

"Perfect," Riku said with a smile. "I'll be showing people around over there. I can come and harass you when you're landing."

"Thanks." Sora gave a bland glare and shoved at the back of Riku's head backing away. "I'll see you in a couple of hours?"

"Later," Riku called, turning off to head to the Information Kiosk where Mowgli was already calling instructions out to a group of students.

When Sora arrived at his post, he found Roxas, Kairi, Jim and a bunch of his other classmates already there, sitting around looking bored as they settled down to wait. Kairi and Jim were chatting lightly, laughing and smiling and Sora stopped with a jolt of realization. He remembered them meeting back at Tidus' party, but he had no clue if anything had happened between them since. Had he really fallen that far out of communication with his best friend?

"So you gonna join us or are you just gonna stand there spacing all day?"

Roxas's voice broke into his thoughts, and that set Sora's mind in a completely different direction. He had a bet he needed to win and here was the perfect opportunity.

"Right," he said making his way over to sit at his station with the others.

"I can't believe this is finally happening," Kairi said through a yawn. "I feel like we've been prepping nonstop since forever. It's gonna be so weird once this is all over and it's back to normal school again."

"You're telling me," Jim agreed, chin resting in his hand, elbow resting on the table in front of him. "After this we have final papers, and final projects, and final exams, and a whole lot of crap I don't even want to think about."

Kairi said something in response to that, but Sora tuned out of that conversation to focus his attention on Roxas.

"So," he began quietly. "You never told me what happened in your conversation with Axel on Thursday. You guys cool?"

Roxas shot him a bored look. "I guess," he said with a shrug. "I'm still not completely sure I get what he's trying to tell me, but at least we're hangin' out again."

"What about Hayner?"

"Right," Roxas sighed, "Hayner."

"Well, y'know," Sora went for casual as he spoke, rocking back on the legs of his chair a little and toying with the hem of his shirt. "Seeing as how today is all about connection and unity and stuff, maybe it's good timing to have that talk with him you seem to be putting off..."

"Sora Holani, sit properly in that chair before you fall!"

Before Roxas could reply or Sora could say more, a familiar voice cut through the murmur of general conversation. Sora was startled so badly that he did, in fact, lose his balance and fall backwards into the piles of grass and reeds prepared for their day of crafts.

There was a chorus of laughter and a sighed "I told you so" as the brunet fought his way out of the collected brush. He hurried to right himself so that he could confirm that his ears were deceiving him, but if that were the case, his eyes were in on the joke as well.

"Aunt Rinoa?!" he screeched in surprise, voice breaking on the stressed points in her name.

"Aww…someone's voice is changing," she cooed, walking over to squeeze his cheeks the way that older relatives are prone to do for some reason. "Surprise, kiddo," she smiled with a gentle smack to his cheek. "You miss me?"

Sora took a step back to get a better look at his aunt, eyes wide. A moment later, his face split into a huge grin and he launched himself into the older woman, all but tackling her in his excitement.

"Rin! What the heck are you _doing_ here!?"

"Come on," she huffed, returning the hug full force. "Give me _some_ credit here. Did you really think I'd miss your big day? I took an early flight this morning to get here on time to see what all of you have pulled together this year."

"This is nuts!" Sora breathed, still looking at his aunt like she might vanish at any moment.

"No," she countered, "what's nuts is how much you've grown. Look at you! You're like, three inches taller than you were when I left, and clearly Blitz has worked all your baby fat away." She poked appraisingly at one of his exposed biceps, causing Sora to flush abashedly. "Nothing but muscle," she laughed.

Sora couldn't help but feel a little pride at the attention. He'd been working hard the whole semester to gain a little muscle so that he could rid himself of his scrawny appearance, and it looked like it was paying off. He would never be as built as Riku or Wakka or lots of the other guys he knew, but there was definite definition to his physique now. He wasn't so embarrassed to be seen with the other players anymore.

"Enough about you though, babe," Rinoa teased him lightly and that served to pull him back out of his head. "Aren't you going to introduce me to your friends?"

Sora, flushed a little darker, looking over at the others who had been enjoying the spectacle.

"Heh, right," he began. "Well, you already know Kairi."

Kairi hopped up to hurry over to Rinoa and give her a hug. "Hi Rinoa," she said. "You look great!"

Rinoa just gaped a moment before finding her voice. "Kairi?! No way!! My _god._ What happened to the little tomboy from Middle School? I go away for three months and all of you kids suddenly aren't kids anymore! You're making me feel old." She tugged playfully at Kairi's longer hair.

Kairi preened a little, sauntering over to sit next to Jim again.

"Great," he muttered, rolling his eyes as he leaned back in his chair, "as if her superiority complex wasn't bad enough as it was."

Sora chuckled as Kairi smacked him in the arm in retaliation for that. "The smart-mouth over there is Jim."

"So you're the infamous Mr. Hawkins I've heard so much about," Rinoa said, leaning over to shake his hands.

"The reports have been exaggerated, I assure you," he supplied with a cocky smirk.

"And then that's Roxas," Sora said gesturing in the general direction of the last of the trio he would be working with.

"Thanks, Sora," the blond grumbled. "Make me feel loved why don'cha."

"Roxas?" Rinoa reached out a hand to shake even as she looked over at Sora, a question in her eyes. "This is the one you stayed with when…?"

"Yeah," Sora confirmed, cutting her off quickly. Not many knew about his short convalescence with the Capiz family as that would have brought up awkward question he wasn't yet ready to answer. Still, Rinoa understood and she pulled Roxas up and into a warm hug.

"Thank you," she told him gently. "You have no idea what your friendship has meant to Sora."

Both Sora and Roxas blushed deeply at this, Sora turning his eyes away from Roxas' gaze where it me his over Rinoa's shoulder. As he turned, he was greeted by the sight of Leon and Cloud strolling into the entrance of the village, each carrying a crate of what looked like food and beverages. Probably snacks for the workers.

"Leon!" Sora called, welcoming the distraction. "You should come over here and meet my aunt!"

Leon, for his part, glanced over at Sora as he was setting his crate down, but then froze at the latter half of Sora's statement. Sora watched in confusion as Leon's eyes shifted to Rinoa with and air that, if it were anyone but Leon, Sora would have sworn was very much like a kid who just got his hand caught in the proverbial cookie jar.

"Really?" Rinoa said, turning at Sora's words. "I actually get to meet the illusive—" She too froze as her eyes fell on Leon. "Squall?!"

Sora was completely confused now. Here was his aunt and his guidance counselor, staring at each other like a mouse(Leon) cornered by a cat(Rinoa). This spoke of history between the two that Sora knew nothing about. But then, just to mix things up, Rinoa decided it was a good time to talk about the weather?! Sora looked up. It didn't _look_ like rain…

"Squall Leonhart," Rinoa all but growled, stalking forward as Leon began inching away like he would bolt at any moment. Sora stared between the two adults, still trying to figure out what was going on. "_You're_ Sora's guidance counselor? The mysterious 'Leon' who is always conveniently on break, or in a meeting, or out of the office whenever I call to speak with him about _how Sora is doing?!"_

Leon was halted in his attempted escape by Cloud who had stepped into his path of retreat. "Cloud," he hissed at the blond under his breath. "Move. Now."

"Sorry, Leonhart," Cloud replied in a voice that sounded anything but sorry. "You made this bed, time to lie in it."

"Y'know Sora," Rinoa began, "I was going to stay here and bug you until your shift was over, but right now I think 'Leon' and I need to have a little talk. I'll be back as soon as I can, 'kay?"

Rinoa shot Sora a surprisingly sweet smile. Based on the fury in her posture only moments before, one would never have thought such an expression would be possible. This served only to further daze the confused brunet as he watched his aunt drag Leon away, Leon glaring daggers at Cloud all the while. Sora followed them with his gaze until they both vanished into the growing crowds of people before turning to Cloud.

"What the heck just happened?!" he asked, voice breaking again.

Cloud smirked and ruffled Sora's hair before heading over to grab his crate again.

"We'll tell you when you're older."

-:- -:- -:-

Rinoa considered herself a calm person. It was an invaluable trait in the field she was pursuing. It didn't get you far to blow up in the faces of powerful businesspeople and/or politicians during delicate negotiations, so she had learned early on in life to be cool and controlled whenever the situation required it. Unfortunately, for one particular guidance counselor, now did not qualify as such a situation.

"Explain yourself, Squall," she growled. The glare she was shooting him could have stripped the bark from the trees around them. "You knew didn't you? I can't believe this. You _knew_ Sora was my nephew and you _purposely_ were avoiding me this _whole time._"

"Because I didn't want our history further complicating the situation with Sora," Squall growled back, clearly struggling to control himself as well. "You made it perfectly clear, a long time ago, that you didn't want anything to do with me any more."

"And that's an excuse for never speaking to me directly?" Rinoa snapped in response. "Making me get all of my information on Sora's progress in school second hand from whoever you delegated to tell it to me?!"

"And exactly what would you have done if you knew?" The brunet challenged. "I _know_ you, Rinoa. You would have been all over the school to get him transferred to another counselor."

"Or _maybe_ I would have been an _adult_ about it and simply _spoken_ to you—"

"_Oh come off it!"_ Squall snarled suddenly, and Rinoa took a startled step back. It had been a long time since she'd argued with him like this. She'd forgotten how intense he could be when he bothered to show his feelings. "You and I both know that if three months ago, you had found out that I was going to be the one looking out for Sora at school, you would have flipped, scared my queer would rub off on him!"

The silence from Rinoa was more than icy, her eyes hard. "You honestly believe I would let something like that compromise Sora's wellbeing?" she asked into the sudden silence between them.

"Tell me I wrong." Squall was uncompromising as his eyes bore into Rinoa's. She looked away first.

"I never would have cared about you being gay, Squall. I just wish you would have been honest with me."

"I'm bi, Rinoa." he replied calmly, "I never lied to you about that. You just weren't willing to hear me."

She was mildly surprised and irritated at the hurt she could hear in his voice. "Don't you dare stand there acting the victim, here," she hissed. "I may have broken up with you, but _you_ were the one making out with that wannabe-cowboy freak in front of half the island!"

"God, Rinoa! This is an old argument! I told you back then that it was _Irvine_ who came out of nowhere and kissed _me_. You were the one too freaked out afterwards to even listen to me try to explain!"

There were tears in Rinoa's eyes now. Tears that she resolutely wiped away as feelings she thought she had dealt with three years before began coming to the surface. She refused to fall apart over this. She was here for Sora, not to deal with something that was old news already.

"Whatever, Squall," she sighed. "What's done is done. Neither of us can change the past. The important thing now is Sora. For his sake, we need to be able to get over this."

Rinoa looked up into the storm-cloud eyes that she used to know so well. It looked like he wanted to argue more. Instead, he gave an accepting nod, turning his eyes away from hers.

"You two done?" a new voice broke into the conversation and Rinoa looked up to find a complete stranger standing at the entrance to the little alcove she and Squall had been speaking in. Squall grunted in reply, apparently all the confirmation the blond man needed.

"Good," he said stepping forward. "Sora's back at his station working, but it would probably be a good idea for you guys to get over there and let him know everything's okay. It's probably not my place to say, but considering your past with Leon, I need to be sure." He stopped, gazing intently at Rinoa with clear blue eyes. "Sora has a boyfriend now. Is that going to be a problem?"

Rinoa could only gaze in shock at the stranger in front of her. She was surprised by the revelation, yes—Sora had never spoken of a developing relationship of any kind in their phone conversations—but more than anything she wanted to know who the hell this guy was challenging her relationship with her nephew.

"Squall?" she asked sharply, her defensive posture and tone of voice clearly demanding an explanation.

The brunet's stoic mask was firmly back in place as he looked between the two. "Rinoa, this is my…" The mask didn't break, but there was a clear hesitation before he continued. "…friend, Cloud. He's one of the swim coaches at school and has also been looking out for Sora through the school year. Cloud, you already know about Rinoa."

"Nice to meet you," Cloud stuck out a hand, which Rinoa took slowly, eyes moving between the two men. It seemed that Sora had earned a few extra guardians that she hadn't know about. With that in mind, she forgave Cloud's questioning. He was just looking out for Sora after all. The thing that captured her attention more now was that slight hesitation from Squall. He wasn't generally the hesitating type.

"Friend?" she asked, taking mild amusement in the way Squall was avoiding both of their glances, the not-quite-there smirk on Cloud's lips.

"Friend," Cloud repeated with a small shrug, clearly taking mercy on the other man.

Rinoa allowed a smirk of her own to spread on her lips. It would be interesting to figure out exactly what that little exchange really meant. Just what was the true nature of their relationship?

All of this had been a completely unexpected turn of events, but Rinoa was nothing if not adaptable. She could make peace with Squall. She _would _make peace with Squall. Despite all that had happened between them, she really did miss having him as a friend. It would be nice to be able to talk to him again, especially with the relationship he now had with Sora.

"Alright then," she said taking it all in stride. "I guess we'd better get back to the children then."

Squall did not look happy as she rested a companionable hand on both his and Cloud's shoulders and led them away, but then again, that was how Squall always looked. That was fine by Rinoa. She had her own fall back for times when emotions were running too high.

"So what the heck is with this 'Leon' business?" she asked brightly, attempting to lighten the mood.

"Yeah," Cloud added, "and who the hell is 'Squall'?"

"Squall's what I used to go by in college. I had to switch back to my real name when I went professional."

"And what was so wrong with your real name that you thought 'Squall' would be a better alternative?"

"Cloud, my name is Leon Leonhart. Shit like that'll get your ass kicked in High School."

"And _'Squall'_ didn't?"

"Like you can talk, _Cloud_."

Rinoa listened as the two men bantered back and forth; the way that Squall seemed to loosen up the more he spoke with Cloud. It felt okay. Almost good, like they were just a group of friends, walking together, with no awkwardness lurking between them. Rinoa nodded to herself, sighing inwardly. For Sora's sake, and her own, she would deal with this. She would make it work. Together, they headed back over to the group of working students.

-:- -:- -:-

Roxas sighed in relief when one o'clock finally swung around. Lunch seemed to take forever to come, especially after Riku showed up around noon with his brothers in tow. That was an hour after Sora's aunt had finally left to go continue exploring the rest of the Restoration Site and various activities that had been set up for visitors. She and Sora had spent the first couple of hours of the shift catching up when they had the chance. Most of the time, she stood by watching or chatting with other people in the area while Sora was busy working with the various tour groups that came through.

When she left, they got in a good stint of undistracted productivity, and then the Cherubs of Serafim Corp. entered the picture. Roxas had never met the older Anakhulis, but there was probably no one left on the island who didn't know their faces. It seemed that they were planning to call as much attention to themselves as possible, and in doing so, make their youngest brother absolutely miserable.

"Behold!" one of them shouted as they made their way into the village. "The great Riku Anakhuli! Lord of the Fire Dance. All bow before him and despair!"

"Seriously, Loz, I'm gonna scalp you if you don't cut that shit out!"

Riku had looked just about ready to follow through with the threat, and it had only gotten worse once they noticed Sora off in a corner showing a group of kids how to weave a fish from some of the long grass that had been collected for that purpose.

The three were ridiculous, disrupting everyone in the area; that is until Ms. Gainsborough had shown up. Roxas still wasn't sure how she'd done it, but a quiet "gentlemen," and steady, not-quite-glare was all it took to get the trio to settle down. That of course didn't keep them from harassing Sora and Riku, both in other ways.

Then Axel had shown and things got even worse…because he also had an entourage.

"Roxy! How's my favorite second brat brother I never asked for doing?"

"Hi Reno," Roxas replied flatly, glaring up at Luxord who was coming up behind Reno's friend Rude.

"Don't look at me," his brother shrugged. "I'm not his keeper. That's Rude's job."

Rude, in turn gave a shrug of his own but refrained from commenting.

"Roxas, I'm hurt!" Reno grabbed his chest in mock pain. "You're not happy to see me?" His face fell back into a bland cocky smirk a moment later, and Roxas raised his eyes to the heavens wondering why he was forced to put up with these situations. This was business as usual with Reno.

"Are you guys actually here to learn how to make something or did you just come to give me shit?"

"Rox, get your head out of your ass, yo." Reno smirked, mussing Roxas' hair to the blond's great irritation. "It ain't always about you, shorty. Ax!" he suddenly barked. "Where this runt you said finally cracked the ice princess?"

Roxas looked over at Axel who had been leaning idly against the table next to Roxas through the exchange. Axel sighed in response, pushing himself up from the table with a roll of his eyes.

"What?" he grumbled. "He said he'd have my social security number erased if I didn't bring him over."

Roxas blinked at that. Reno was a bit higher up the food chain in security at the Lucky Strike casino where he and Luxord worked. The casino was a minor subsidiary of Shinra Inc. and Reno had connections going all the way to Rufus Shinra himself. Roxas had heard his brother talking to Reno about it once. Stuff about Turks…money…power…something like that. From what Roxas gathered, it was perfectly within Reno's ability to follow through with that threat.

He'd watched as the small group had trouped over to the station where Sora was working and proceed to further disrupt matters (Fuck, Ax! You were shittin' me when you said he was a twig!), but then they noticed Riku's brothers and everything, again, got worse.

Apparently the Anakhuli's were well known around the casino; infamous for picking fights when they didn't get what they wanted. They always got away with their bad behavior because of the connections their father had, but that didn't mean that casino security would just turn a blind eye to the things they pulled. Security, of course, was responsible for its own share of dirty business, so it was no shock that a bit of bad blood had brewed between the two groups.

Fortunately, just as things looked like they were going to get out of hand, Ms. Gainsborough had shown up again, this time with a firmer look and distinctly unhappy expression. Without a word, the six men had looked at her, then at each other and together exited the village leaving a tense silence in their wake.

After all of that, Roxas was surprised and relieved to find that the group on the next shift had shown up somewhere in there and Ms. Gainsborough was going around letting the first shift kids know that they were free to go.

"Why do our families suck so bad?" Riku groaned from where he lay sprawled on his back in the grass of a sunny clearing with Roxas, Axel, and Sora in the same position.

"I'm sure they could be worse?" Sora offered, sounding dubious of his own words.

"Yeah, if they were axe murderers maybe," Roxas contributed.

"Sometimes, I'm not positive my bro isn't," Axel added.

Awkward silence…

"So!" Sora was the first to sit up, changing the subject. "I promised my aunt I'd meet her over at Caprice for lunch and then me and Riku'll be working over on one of the smaller islands. You guys wanna come?"

Roxas groaned, throwing an arm over his eyes to block out the sun. "I just want to be as far away from people right now as I can. I'm on server duty for dinner tonight, _and_ I'm supposed to be running one of the game booths in Fortuna at like, two or something. I never knew dealing with so many random people could be this annoying."

"No," Riku grunted, "I think it was just dealing with all of our brothers."

"And what was up with your aunt and Leon this morning, Sora?" Roxas added, suddenly remembering the drama with the only member of Sora's family present.

Sora just shrugged, standing and dragging Riku up with him. "Hell if I know. I just lived with her for six years."

Riku snorted a laugh at the comment. "So I'm guessing you guys aren't coming?" he asked, stretching beside Sora.

Roxas remain where he was, illustrating his intentions.

"That looks like a 'no'," Axel answered. Both Riku and Sora snickered at him and Roxas graced them with a display of his middle finger.

"Just remember what we talked about this morning, Rox!" Sora's retreating voice called to him. "It's the perfect opportunity! Seize the day!"

"What the hell was that about?" Axel's confused tenor came next.

It took a moment for Roxas to figure that out himself, and then it clicked. "Hayner," murmured, removing his arm from his eyes. "For some reason Sora's all gung-ho about me fixing things with Hayner today."

"Huh, funny. I swear I heard Reeks talking to your bud Hayner about letting things calm down after today and then sitting down and talking things out with you tomorrow."

Roxas turned his head and blinked at Axel. "Why the hell would Riku be talking to Hayner about this?"

"Why would I know that? Do I look like I live inside that freaky silver head? Am I supposed to be able to read his mind or something?"

"Shut-up Axel, it was a rhetorical question." To Roxas' mild surprise, Axel did just that, allowing a comfortable silence to fall between them. Roxas was grateful for it. Thinking of Hayner made him think of other things, like the conversations he'd had with Naminé and then Axel on Thursday. Thoughts had been brewing in his head since that day, and a somewhat blurry picture was finally beginning to form in his head regarding his current situation.

"I think I'm going to take Sora's advice," he said at length. "I really do need to talk to Hayner, and I'd rather do it sooner than later."

"You finally figuring it out?" Axel asked idly.

"Yeah," Roxas said, turning his face from the sky to look at his friend again. Axel remained in his relaxed posture—legs crossed, head resting on his arms, eyes looking up, face cutting a strong profile against the greenery surrounding them. "I think I am."

Roxas still couldn't quite name the feeling that seemed to flutter into life in his heart whenever he really _looked_ at Axel, but he was becoming more aware of it now. He couldn't deny it any longer. He wasn't sure if he even wanted to.

"See, Rocky, I knew there was something hiding under all them spikes."

"Yeah, well you're still an asshole," Roxas grumbled in response. He turned to look back up at the sky and enjoyed the time he had to think.

-:- -:- -:-

"Your aunt seems cool," Riku commented as he walked beside Sora, following the path that would lead them to the stretch of beach they had discovered the week before. It was almost three o'clock and they were both on break until dinner set-up began at four. After they had finished lunch with Rinoa, they had both gone off to their other duties, but had been let off early since there where not that many people interested in going to the island they were working. The two boys had taken the time off to go exploring and enjoy the unexpected free time.

"She is cool," Sora replied. "I mean, she didn't have to take me in when my mom got sick. Probably would have been easier for her if she let me become a ward of the state or something, but she wouldn't have any of that. She was studying about the government and stuff back then; kept talking about kids slipping through the cracks or something and how she didn't want me to become another 'statistic in our emotionally defunct Social Services System.' And that's a quote because I'm still not sure I know exactly what it means."

"I'm shocked you didn't sprain your brain remembering so many big words strung together in a row," Riku snickered, smirking over at Sora.

"Right, because I'm so sure you could repeat it _and_ tell me what it means."

"Naturally."

A moment of silence passed between them as they continued walking.

"Well?" Sora prodded.

"Well what?" Riku raised an eyebrow at him.

"Well, enlighten me. I'm waiting to hear your wisdom oh great knowledgeable sage."

"I don't know, Sora. It's pretty complicated. I wouldn't want you to hurt yourself trying to understand."

"Uh huh." The pair broke from the tree line onto the sand as Sora shot Riku a doubtful look. "I think you're full of it."

"If by 'it' you mean awesomeness that you couldn't even come close to matching in your dreams, then yeah, your right." Riku grinned, apparently very pleased with himself for the line.

"I actually meant 'shit', but I guess I can let you keep your delusions."

"Whatever," Riku kicked at the sand as they walked along, allowing another beat of silence before getting back to the original subject. "So here's what I don't get. She's cool, right, your aunt. So why did she just ditch you like this? You guys were living together before, yeah?"

Sora shrugged. "Yeah, but she has a life of her own. She didn't ask to get wrapped up in our family drama."

Riku shot him a confused glance. "She's your aunt. Doesn't that make your family drama her family drama, too?

"Actually she has a whole other family drama of her own. Her even coming here and connecting with us has probably already put a lot of pressure on her relationship with her parents at least, my dad being the bastard brother she never knew about and all."

"Oh," Riku winced, "ouch."

"Yeah," Sora sighed in agreement, steering them under the bridge leading to the little paopu island. "She passed up a lot of opportunities just so that she could stay here with me as long as she did. I mean, she got her internships done and everything, but there were better ones she could have taken if she left. And then she got offered a job with Shinra. It was pretty much what she had been aiming for from the start, a chance to work for a company where she might be able to really do some good, y'know? I couldn't let her pass that up."

"Wow, that's pretty intense," Riku commented, nodding his head as he looked out over the ocean. "I guess I never thought about this place in terms of job opportunities."

"Yeah," Sora gave a little breathy laugh. "Your dad could just build a place for you to work if it came down to it, right?"

Riku looked at Sora like he'd just pooped from the wrong end before giving a small shudder. "Me work for my dad? With my brothers? I'll pass. That's all for Kadaj and Yazoo. Loz'll probably get dragged in eventually too. He's the oldest, but he doesn't do anything without them."

"Then what are you planning to do after you graduate?"

"I don't know. Gonna go to college like everyone else and figure out the rest from there. My dad's actually looking to open a branch office of his company here. I think he's about ready to head back to the city but he wants to make sure my brothers have a stake in the family business." He chuckled a little. "I know they don't act like it, but I really think they've gotten used to living here. With a branch of Serifim on Destiny, 'Daj could come back and things would be perfect."

"Yeah, but what about you?" Sora asked with a concerned frown. "What will you do when your dad moves away?"

"Well…" Riku hesitated a bit before continuing, clearly weighing how he wanted to answer. "…I was thinking, if things don't work out with your mom and you have to move, I could, y'know, maybe find a school someplace closer to where you'll be?"

Riku pointedly kept his eyes directed away from the younger boy as they continued along, but Sora could still see the slight blush coloring his face. Despite the fact that Riku had just brought up a subject they had both been stolidly avoiding, the thought was warming. It helped Sora see that there was still hope even if things did go the path that he least desired.

"And what makes you think I'd want you following me off to where ever I end up?" The words were snarky, but the voice in which they were spoken was gentle, the smile on Sora's face warm.

"Somebody's gotta be there to keep you in line, freak." Riku returned with equal tenderness, managing somehow to avoid excessive shows of emotion while simultaneously expressing what he needed to without words. It was getting easier to do that the more time the boys spent together.

The two idled around the area for a while, just seeing what was there. It was pretty amazing to them because it seemed as if no one else had discovered it yet despite the obvious signs that people had come there long before. It seemed like the kind of place that people stumbled upon, enjoyed for a while and then abandoned again without telling anyone else about it.

"There's even a dock over here," Sora noted. "You could totally row around the island and land over here instead of cutting through the forest."

"Would probably be faster too," Riku noted. He was giving the area an extensive scan and his eyes stopped on an area that they had yet to explore so far. "Hey," he said, nudging Sora in the side. "I'll race you to that waterfall."

Sora looked up, following Riku's gaze and easily spotting the little recessed area where there was a pool being fed by a cascade of water falling over the rocks. He smiled.

"If you're that desperate to lose to me again." He agreed.

"Alright," Riku said, leading forward slightly. "_Readysetgo_!"

"Hey!" Sora squawked in indignation as Riku took off, giving him no time to prepare at all. He chased after Riku's retreating form, climbing up over the raised bit of land that separated the lower beach from the area where the waterfall was. Riku was laughing his ass off as he ran, stopping in the shade to grin triumphantly back at Sora.

"Because that was fair," Sora protested, irritated at his loss.

"Payback's a bitch, boy," Riku returned in an exaggerated western accent.

Sora just glared, turning away from Riku to get a better view of the waterfall.

"Oh come on, Sora," Riku cooed, coming up behind him and draping his arms over Sora's narrower shoulders. "Stop pouting. Nobody likes a sore loser."

"I'm not pouting," Sora grumbled, quickly pulling in his offending lower lip.

"Of course you're not," Riku agreed with him in his most patronizing tone of voice. Sora could almost feel the evil smirk as the taller boy's fingers began poking at his stomach, inching toward his sides.

"Riku…" Sora said in warning tones even as he tried to escape the attack, but it was useless. Riku's hold was firm and his fingers knew everywhere to touch to render Sora helpless.

In a matter of seconds, Sora was bent forward, squirming and laughing so hard there were tears in his eyes as he made vain attempts to get away. He tried to gasp out more words of protest, but he could get nothing out. There was only one option left. With a yell, he threw all of his weight down and to the side succinctly dragging both of them onto the mossy ground surrounding the pool. With the element of surprise in his favor, he managed to roll away from Riku's grasp, keeping hold of an arm as he straddled Riku's back and pinned him to the ground.

"_Waitwaitwaitwaitwaitwaitwait_!" Riku protested as Sora settled himself comfortably. He wasn't going anywhere unless Sora let him. "What's that?"

"Riku, seriously" Sora deadpanned. "Can we say, 'oldest trick in the book'?"

"No, really," Riku repeated and Sora squinted, dropping down to Riku's eye level to see what he was seeing. From the new angle, he could just make out something beyond the foliage. There was a space that looked darker than just the rest of the rock face where the water was falling. Immediately intrigued, Sora stood up from Riku's back and walked over to investigate.

"It looks like some kind of opening," he said, squatting down and shoving leaves aside, "like a cave or something." His eyes lit up at the discovery. "Wanna see what's inside?"

He looked over at Riku who had a hesitant expression on his face.

"I don't know, So. There could be anything in there."

A slow knowing smile spread across Sora's face. "Anything?" he asked. "You mean like giant, hungry, cave-dwelling spiders?"

Riku turned away, face reddening a little. "There could be."

Sora snickered a bit but leaned forward to get into the hole. "Come on, Riku. I promise to protect you from the scawy haiwy spiders." The last was said in such a babying tone that Riku had no choice but to follow. It was an issue of pride after all.

There were a few webs at the mouth that Sora batted away with a hand, but once they got into the cave, there was more space and any webs that were there were far overhead.

"This is awesome," Sora breathed, looking up at the openings above them that allowed light to stream in. "I wonder where those let out," he mused aloud looking up. There were several holes in the upper cave walls where dappled sunlight filtered down providing enough light to see almost every detail of the enclosed space. It was convenient, but he wondered if some hapless hiker would be walking one day only to find themself falling through a hole and ending up sprawled at the bottom of the cave.

He and Riku poked around a bit, examining the rough walls and odd rock formations around them.

"Y'know," Riku spoke up thoughtfully after a time, "I never would have even noticed the entrance to this place if you hadn't been shoving my face into the ground. I bet no one would be able to find us in here." There was a distinctly suggestive purr to his voice as he spoke the last, stepping up behind Sora to run his hands over the smaller boy's sides so that there was no confusion on exactly what he was suggesting.

"Probably, not," Sora commented airily, trembling slightly at Riku's touch. "And y'know," he turned to look up at Riku with a vaguely devious gleam in his eyes. "You really couldn't do better than this natural mood lighting."

"I knew there was a reason I liked you," Riku said as he leaned down accepting the clear invitation.

Sora gave a small chuckle, grinning. "What's not to like?"

The first brush of lips was electric, sending pleasant shivers through both as their mouths curved in twin smiles of appreciation. It had only been a week, but already this much was different. The awkwardness was gone, the hesitance erased, and there was no doubt as tongue sought tongue, gliding, tasting.

Riku hummed pleasantly in the back of his throat when Sora gave a small nibble to his bottom lip. That was something new, and he rather liked the feel of it. Sora gave and answering moan at the sound prompting Riku to pull him closer, melding their bodies together in delicious, complete contact.

"Don't tell me you're hungry again already," he teased in sultry tones, moving back a little to nip playfully at the smaller boy's nose.

"You're one to talk," Sora laughed back as Riku continued peppering his face with tiny nibbles to his cheeks, chin, nose… "What's with you and my nose anyway?"

"I can't help it," Riku said between bites. "It's just…" _nip_ "so…" _nip_ "cute…"

Sora pushed him back, shoving him against the cave wall as he shot him an icy, just barely threatening glare.

"'Cute'?" he growled moving closer while keeping Riku pinned where he was. "I hope you didn't think I'd just let you get away with that."

Riku smirked down at Sora. He had gained some height since the beginning of the year, so the angle wasn't quite as far as it had once been. Even in the dim lighting of the cave he could see the smoldering flames in those brilliant blue eyes. As always when it came to Sora, he could feel himself being swept under by the heady feel of his close proximity; his scent, the feel of his body, the heat radiating from him. There was little that Riku loved more than pushing the brunet's buttons. There was a fiercer side to Sora that he usually hid from the people in his life, but Riku reveled in his ability to bring that fire to the surface.

His smirk stretched wider still at the thought. He leaned forward, closing the few inches that separated their faces, and allowed the tip of his tongue to flick over the tip of Sora's nose in clear defiance.

"Bring it."

-:- -:- -:-

The rest of the day progressed with few problems. Tourist, parents, and families moved about the villages, enjoying the work of the students of Paopuan National. The students, in turn, took as much from the day as they could. All of the work was over so it was time to play. And play they did. More than one kid would be stuck with detention on Monday for attempting to start food fights, shoving people into the water, or experimenting on native fire starting techniques without supervision. Still, overall, the day was good, and by time dinner came and left and the students were preparing for the finale, everyone was pleased to announce the day a success.

"I'll be sitting front and center with Leon and Cloud, ok Sora!" Rinoa called after they'd finished eating as Sora made his way backstage to get dressed. He waved back at her, looking on in wonder at the guidance counselor and swim coach as his aunt walked over to join them. From the way Rinoa had reacted that morning, Sora was confused as to why they all suddenly looked like bosom buddies.

"Sora, come on!" Roxas called grabbing Sora's wrist and pulling him to the area behind the complex's main stage. "The Wind Song group is already almost set!" They didn't make it very far. Roxas wasn't watching where he was going and ended up slamming into someone who had been standing too close behind him. When he turned to find Hayner standing there with a disgruntled look on his face, Sora and Roxas both froze in apprehension. The last thing they needed was more tension between them just before they were supposed to go on stage together.

"What are you guys standing there gaping for," Hayner snapped with his usual attitude. "Let's go!"

Sora watched as Roxas' mouth first gaped open then, slowly pulled into a small, satisfied smile. He blinked in confusion.

"What was that?" Sora voiced his question as they, more carefully, made their way to get set.

"That was Hayner telling us that he's ready to talk." Roxas explained.

Unfortunately, there was no time to dwell on that revelation. They were ten minutes before the start of the show and still not dressed yet! Of course, the chanters for the Fire Dance didn't have anything major to worry about as far as garb was concerned. They went out topless and had different wraps to tie on, a ring of leaves to tie just below each knee, a braided grass head band, strung wooden beads to go around their necks and ankles and then some simple face and body paint. Considering the fact that between the Wind Song and Water Dance, they had a good twenty minutes before they needed to be set, there really was no rush. However, they wanted to see their other friends perform, meaning they needed to get dressed and out to their seats in record time.

Sora and Roxas met up with Tidus, Hayner, and Pence in the dressing area back stage. All of their things were already waiting for them, so it was really just a matter of stripping and changing. The guys pulled on their wraps and accessories, deciding to save the body paint for just before they went on stage. That being done, they made their way to the area set aside to allow performers to watch the parts of the show they were not involved in. They hurried out onto the bench seats along one side of the amphitheatre, settling down just as the house lights began to fade.

This part of the evening was a performance of one of the oldest legends in the Paopuan culture. It made sense that this was saved for last, because it really did exemplify the essence of the people of the islands; the Paopuan tale of the birth of humanity. The story was broken into five parts; the Wind Song, the Water Dance, the Earth Beat, the Fire Dance and all culminated at the end with the Paopuan Spirit. In the past, the dance was a celebration of life and marked the beginning of a courtship period. It demonstrated the necessity of unity within their culture, the interdependence of all things, and the way separate elements joined to bring life into the world.

The first notes of a lone flute sang out into the night air, a low drone. The stage was illuminated with blue, light reflecting off of the waterfall, pool of water, compacted earth, and shrubbery that made up the show's setting.

"In the beginning of time when the world was new," Sora's art teacher, Pocahontas, was serving as narrator for the evening, her deep voice solemn as she explained the story behind the dance for those who didn't know it, "There was the land and the sea; air above, fire below."

Each element had a different representation that made itself known as the element name was spoken. Drums rolled for the earth, beads danced together mimicking rain for the water. The lone flute was joined by a flurry of others for air and flints crashed loudly together for fire. All of this was done by students off stage to maintain the almost mystical environment that was being created for the audience.

"And then came a day when the air sang out in one voice…"

This was the cue for the Wind Song players to step on stage, all draped in silk that floated on the gentle evening breeze. They played on flutes of bones or reeds, the different sounds floating in and out of existence hauntingly, calling to mind the sound of the wind as is howled through ocean caves. The players wondered about the stage moving aimlessly to the sounds of their own music. Sora was mildly surprised to note that Ariel's boyfriend Eric was one of the two lead players, standing center stage with a girl Sora didn't recognize to play a sorrowful melody against the simple notes of the other players.

"But without vessel," the narration continued as the Wind Song came to an end, "the song could not live. It drifted in vain, without life; without purpose. And then came a day when the song drifted to the sea, and the sea awoke to the voice of the air."

The players had drifted to the waterfall and as the last line was spoken, the falling water parted and the next group entered the stage. At the front of the line was Yuna, Tidus nudging his friends excitedly as she moved to her position. Behind her was Ariel, then finally Kida, the three females lining up along the pool of the waterfall, Kida at the center. There was a platform just beneath the surface of the pool, and from the audience, it appeared as though the three were standing on the water itself.

"The water took the voice into itself…and so began the dance of life."

Kida's voice rose up in song, echoed and followed by Ariel and Yuna, and this was the cue for the younger dancers to enter the stage. The three central dancers were draped in blue, a long sheer material that was layered and connected behind their necks, almost shimmering in the blue lights on the stage. Their shoulders were bare and the fabric fell smoothly down, tracing their figures and stopping just above their ankles. There were strings of shimmering beads, like droplets of water, connected to the material. As they began to move in flowing, sensual dance, the beads gave every motion the sound of water falling on water.

The Water Dance was all about grace and beauty. It accentuated ideas that were traditionally attributed to femininity. The slow move of hips, the way the material of the dancers' attire called attention to the curves and lines of the female form. But the power in the voices of the singers—the chanted words themselves—were a reminder of the strength inherent in the women of their people as well. They were mother, sister, cousin, wife; the bearers of life.

Tidus was all but drooling as he watched the display, Sora, Roxas, Pence, and even Hayner snickering as they watched him. Kairi, Namine, Olette, and Selphie were among the chanters on stage, and they looked pleased as they followed the less complicated motions of their dance, hands rising and falling to add the sound of their water beads to the flutes and trilling voices of the three central Water Dancers.

"And then came a day when the sea and air moved towards the land." As the Water Dance ended, the chanters exited the stage leaving only the three dancers, and two Wind Song players. The flautists remained stationary beside the pool as the dancers took a step forward.

"But without body, the water could only crash against the shore as waves." The dancers had stepped from the platform and into the water, sinking down to their shoulders, heads bowed.

"The crashing waves woke the slumbering land." At this, drums began off stage, sending vibrations across the entire theatre. The lighting shifted from the tranquil blue, brightening to green, then yellow. "And so began, the first pulse of life."

The Earth Beat and following Fire Dance was a livelier part of the show, meant to display the masculine attributes of physical strength and vitality. The Earth Beat also marked the point when all participants in the Fire Dance needed to make their way back stage. Sora got a glimpse of Wakka and Nani leading a group with large wooded drums strapped around their waists before he hurried off with the other Fire Dance chanters to get set.

The vibrations of the drums could be felt underfoot backstage as Sora scanned the area for the main Fire Dancers. They were easy to spot, being the last of the major players who had not gone out yet. Riku, Axel, and David were standing by their entry point chatting and adjusting their attire as the others moved towards them.

"Not bad," Sora said, stopping to take in, with appreciation, the sight of Riku in full performance garb. The leaf skirt that they had worked on together covered the majority of his lower half, stopping around mid calf and falling longer in the front. Like the rest of them, his upper half was bare with the exception of a few strokes of body paint on his chest and shoulders. There were strands of wood beads tied around his neck and biceps, his hair was tied back allowing only his bangs to fall forward, and he too wore a crown of braded grass around his head.

"Just try not to drool too much when we get out there," Riku replied, crossing his arms and making a point of flexing his muscles as he did. Sora could not deny that it was a very impressive sight.

"And he's so modest too!" This from Axel who cooed, playfully pinching on of Riku's cheeks.

"Watch it, Ax," Riku growled in response. "I might 'accidentally' burn your ass when we get out there."

"And we all know that would be a crime against humanity," David snickered sarcastically.

"I don't see where the joke is in that statement," Axel shot right back.

The three dancers spent the rest of the few minutes before their stage time bantering back and forth, the chanters standing around observing and talking amongst themselves. The Fire Dance was the most humorous of the five parts of the evening's performance. It was all about bravado and arrogance, and the dancer trio spent their time backstage getting into character so to speak. It was fun to see the way they interacted, but after not too long…

"And the pulse of the land stirred the fire at its heart." Pocahontas' solemn voice spoke again. That was the cue for the start of the Fire Dance segment. "And the flames burst forth in wild abandon."

Sora and the other chanters ran onto the stage with loud shouts, taking up their positions, grins spreading on their faces. Wakka and Nani remained on stage to offer the driving pulse for the dance while the chanters took their place a bit further upstage, clapping and slapping their chests in the familiar patterns they had been practicing for weeks.

There came a high call from David offstage and the dancers made their entrance, each holding a long torch extended before them. The audience clapped as they made their way out, moving to different parts of the performance area to encourage cheers from those who were watching. When the noise level reached sufficient volume, the three, at David's lead, began the first simple moves of the dance, thrusting the torches into the air and swinging them a couple of times around their heads.

Sora smiled, continuing the chanting as he watched them. He'd seen this performance before, but this was the first time that any of them had seen this year's dancers perform in full. At practices, they did short general mock-ups of the dance without fire or attire. This was completely different.

Fire was a youthful element; energy, impulsivity, caprice. There was meant to be a bit of the juvenile in the dance, and the three performers managed this well. They moved together, but some of the movements were purposefully exaggerated, and the audience laughed when Axel 'accidentally' tripped Riku, sending the other boy crashing into David's rear end torch first.

David made a show of being angry, swinging his torch to hit Riku on the butt in retaliation, but missed, hitting the bottom of Riku's torch instead, setting it aflame. The air filled with laughter and applauds as Riku, feigning panic, began moving the now two ended torch in a series of complicated patterns that Sora knew must have given him more than a few burns before he had mastered them. In the dim light, it was like Riku was surrounded in a halo of flame, muscles working and body glistening in a thin sheen of sweat.

The more impressive thing was the fact that the least experienced at stick twirling was always the first to perform. After his solo section, Riku 'tripped', dropping his torch and setting the ground on fire. Axel moved to swat at him, but Riku dodged, causing Axel to set the other end of his torch on fire as well. The audience cheered as he came to the center, his torch inexplicably splitting in two. He began leaping forward, twirling the torches expertly in each hand. He stopped near the edge of the stage, fire spinning on either side of him like twin wheels of flame.

Sora's eyes shifted for a moment out to the audience, laughing aloud when he spotted Sephiroth sitting in the VIP box with the principal, some teachers, and a few others that Sora didn't recognize. The conversation he had with Riku the night before came to mind and he could not agree more that Riku's father would have no business sitting with everyone else's mom and dad. He also noted the multiple cameras set around the area and knew that Riku was probably right. Someone out there was probably being paid to focus exclusively on filming him for the whole show.

He grinned broadly as he caught a glimpse of Rinoa waving at him, then his attention was brought back to the center of the stage where David was beginning his solo. The defender took their flame play to new heights literally, twirling his torches, spinning and tossing them into the air, catching them unerringly in moves that left even some of the chanters gaping. He made it look easy though, bowing proudly at the audience's praise when he was done.

That moved them on to the second half of the dance. While David had been performing, Riku and Axel had stepped back to consider the patch of burning ground where Riku's torch had fallen. It was actually a series of treated mats that had been placed before hand so as to keep the fire contained. Axel shoved Riku forward, pointing at the fire, but Riku shoved back, trying to shove Axel toward it.

In the scuffle that ensued, David gave a long suffering sigh and made his approach of the flames instead. He tried just stomping them out, but that didn't work, so instead, he stepped back, lifting the longer portion of his leaf skirt and dropping it down on the burring ground, straddling the flames as he moved forward trying to put them out. However, even as he passed over them, hips making small thrusting movements, the fire sparked back to life beneath him. He gave a look of panic, then surprised thoughtfulness as he continued moving his hips experimentally over the heat. His face fell into a smirk of unexpected satisfaction just before Riku moved up beside him, shoving him away from the fire, apparently wanting to try it for himself.

The youngest of the dancers took his place at the head of the flames, lifting the front of his skirt and slamming it down as David had before. He grinned cockily as he began a confident thrust of his hips, urging his body forward in little hops. He paused a moment, smirking as he rotated his pelvis in small circles, straddling the flames; swaying his hips back and forth, proving his endurance and welcoming the heat that raged between his legs.

Sora faltered in his chanting as he watched this. The Fire Dance was the male counterpart to the Water Dance, meant to accentuate the masculine side of sensuality. It didn't take a brain surgeon to discern the symbolism of the motions of this half of the dance, but somehow Sora hadn't expected to respond to it the way he did. From that very first thrust of hips, he had been hypnotized. His eyes remained trained on every sway, every swivel.

The way Riku's abdominal muscles flexed as he moved, the play of firelight across his skin. Every detail was brought into painfully clear relief, and images began flashing behind his eyes. _Thrusting, rotating hips._ Images that were beginning to light a bit of a fire of their own between Sora's legs.

The spell was broken, when Riku, in his over confidence, stayed on the fire too long, leaping away as his companions laughed at him. Then Axel stepped up with a smirk that said 'let me show you how it's done,' and Sora couldn't help but glance over at Roxas to gauge his reaction. He watched his blond friend gulp as Axel straddled the flames, watched him blush as the steady thrusts began, and that was all the information he needed. Something would happen between those two soon. He was sure of it.

Sora noticed that he wasn't the only one watching Roxas in that moment. Hayner had a look of resigned acceptance on his face as he leaned back into the line, and Sora frowned a little. He found himself hoping that whether it was that evening or the next day, he didn't care about his bet with Riku anymore. He just wanted Hayner and Roxas to talk so that they could work through whatever it was that was keeping them apart. Even if it did mean losing to Riku, there were more important things at stake.

But then again…

Sora's attention drifted back to where Riku had shoved Axel aside now to make another go across the flames. This time around, Riku made a point of catching Sora's eye, smiling wickedly with every, deliberate, thrust of his hips. Sora gulped thickly, tearing his eyes away, fighting against the images dancing through his mind and instead imagining Riku's brothers; the horrors they would inflict upon him if he got a hard-on in the middle of the performance.

…there were definitely worse things in the world than belonging to Riku for a day.

-:- -:- -:-

**A/N:**

Holy crap, kids! This is getting ridiculous! 12K is just too many words per chapter, and then I somehow went WAY over! 14K IS NOT OK!! DX I've gotta cut back on that…it'll make my brain happier and speed the updating process. Win-win sitch if you ask me :D

So…

**Culture stuff:**

The Fire Dance thing here is based in part off of a similar thing I saw from the Samoan culture. I will be putting a link in my profile for interested parties. The rest of it…I pretty much made up.

Some fairly relevant things happened this chapter, though they probably don't seem that way right now. Things will make since later. Promise! ;D


	16. Ch 13: Tension Up

Standard Disclaimer: If I draw them all enough, maybe one day they'll be mine…but I'm not holding my breath

**Standard Disclaimer:** If I draw them all enough, maybe one day they'll be mine…but I'm not holding my breath.

**Notes: **Additional warning for this chapter: a touch citrus in early sections, and life being…lifelike…I also used a different beta this time…because I'm living with her at the moment. So thanks a billion to **roochipoochi**!!

I'd like also to dedicate this chapter to **Delusional Kitty **and **EternalSketches** who both have made beautiful fanart for this story. Links can be found in my profile. Thank you both so much!

**Warnings:** Gratuitous use of Disney and Square characters, language, at least one homosexual relationship, bigoted ass-holes, semi non-con encounters, made-up culture and language, lots of Blitzball, and general teen awkwardness. Enjoy!

-:-finem-:-

**Life on the Blitz**

**Chapter 1****3****: **

**Tension Up**

The Fire Dance came to an end with a final flourish of drums, flames, and applause and the chanters cleared the stage leaving the main dancers to transition them to the final segment of the performance. Sora felt strange as he made his exit. His skin was flushed, his pulse quickened, and all of his senses seemed to be heightened somehow. Especially touch. Every brush of contact against his skin sent tingles through his nerves. Even his breathing seemed to be acting strangely. The moves for his part of the in the program were not all that difficult, so he couldn't figure out why he was suddenly so…tense.

"And so the Earth and Fire found kinship in each other," Pocahontas' voice continued, "but together, they were wild, destructive. Voiceless and thoughtless, lost in the fury of their existence. And so the Sea and Air called out and said, 'Share with us your pulse and energy, and we will give you voice and reason.' Soothed by the sweet voice of the wind, Earth and Fire moved towards the water."

The Water Dancers were by now kneeling at the edge of the pool, the Wind Song players trilling at the spoken words. The drummers from the Earth Beat and primaries from the Fire Dance approached the pool, each of the Dancers reaching out a hand to one of the kneeling females.

"And with this union, flesh was knit, life was born. And so was birthed the Spirit of our people."

This was the end; the final celebration. The leads for all four elements came together smiling, Earth and Fire giving Water and Air body and spark; the calmer elements giving breath and control to their more capricious counterparts. This was the signal for everyone else to get on stage to finish the performance in loud joyous celebration.

That was the plan anyway. Things didn't quite go that way for Sora. The beginning of that ending was a process of very ordered chaos. There were students everywhere, screaming, dancing, there was music playing, drums beating, voices rising. That was the idea. It was meant to be a showcase of life in all its wonder and madness, would spread to the audience as the students in the crowd encouraged others there to dance too. It was a simple thing to vanish in the chaos and before Sora had even fully made it on stage again, he felt himself being pulled back dragged out of the press of bodies to the now abandoned staging area.

"Riku, wha--," he didn't even get a chance to make a proper protest before he found himself being very thoroughly kissed, Riku blindly guiding them deeper backstage away from any possible prying eyes. There were no complaints from the brunet who found logical thought extremely difficult at the intense feel of skin to skin contact. He found himself groaning into the kiss, pressing himself more firmly against the solid muscles of Riku's body. The older boy's hands were roaming over him almost desperately.

"Sorry," Riku gasped out, breaking the kiss but allowing his hands to continue their exploration of Sora's torso. "I just..." Sora let out a garbled groan, chest arching forward as a stray finger brushed over his nipple. Riku stared down at him with renewed intensity, brushing the sensitive nub again, watching in fascination as Sora shuddered. _Again_. He drank in the desperate gasp. _And again..._

"God, Riku stop!" Sora groaned, pressing his forehead into Riku's shoulder shoulders heaving as he sucked in mouthfuls of air. "We are _not_ doing this here."

Sora's protests were not particularly convincing as his own fingers were creeping up to tweak Riku's nipples in return, and his hips were grinding against the bound leaves at the front of Riku's skirt to give attention to a steadily growing hardness at his groin. The loose leaves at the bottom were considerably less distracting than Sora thought they ought to be, but maybe that was just because there were more _pressing_ matters keeping his attention at the moment.

Riku growled out his frustration at the touches, the wanton way the Sora was moving against him. He tried to focus enough to form a response, but there was building pressure, grasping fingers and logical thought was slowly slipping away from him.

"You're right," he breathed at last, hands grabbing Sora's hips to pull him into a firmer grind. "It's just..."

"The dance..." Sora supplied as Riku's mouth had become preoccupied with his neck. Riku grunted an affirmative, but Sora lost track of everything else as he felt one of those all too suggestive thrusts aimed at the most sensitive part of his anatomy. "Oh shit..."

They both knew that they were in the wrong place for any of what they were doing; that there would be evidence and questions and awkwardness, but those concerns were steadily fading to the background. They were well on their way to finishing what they had started, and probably would have except...

"Shit, Loz! That was my foot!"

"_Shhh!_ _Damn_ it. Now look what you did."

The music and drums from stage were still loud, but the sudden clatter and loudly whispered voices were hard to miss, even in the noise. Sora and Riku both froze mid grope, heads snapping in the direction from which they heard the noises. They could just make out three figures in the shadows, and the steady glow of a single, small, red light.

"Don't mind us!" Kadaj's voice called out, "continue at your leisure."

"What they fuck are you guys doing?!" Riku snarled, moving Sora aside to go stalking after his brothers. "You were--?! Loz, give me that tape."

"C'mon! We're just making sure to get all of your big moments on film today, Reeks."

"_Give me the fucking tape!_"

There was a scuffle, some laughter, and then the sound of retreating feet. Sora ventured forward to find Riku face down on the ground just beyond some fallen poles and scaffolding, the side entrance to the backstage area slamming soundly a few seconds later.

"They were recording us," Sora stated, mind still reeling from the drastic change in situation in the past two minutes.

"They were recording us." Riku confirmed, face still in the floor.

"And they still have the tape?" Sora asked, hoping that maybe Riku had actually gotten it and swallowed it somehow maybe?

"They still have the tape." Riku growled. "Can't run in this fucking skirt. I'm going to castrate all of them in their sleep."

There was an awkward silence between them, even as the music and activity on stage came to a crescendo as the performance neared its end. The mood was officially ruined with the help of Riku's brothers...but while a bit deflated, neither boy was quite down and out.

"So..." Sora said, scratching his head awkwardly.

"Yeah..." Riku agreed, finally pushing himself up.

"Waterfall?"

"Waterfall."

Everyone would remember the spectacular finale that night as Riku and Sora burst through the on-stage waterfall and into the chilly waters of the Water Dancer's pool. It had definitely been an eventful evening.

-:- -:- -:-

"So Squ-- sorry, Leon was telling me that you guys have to do clean up while the visitors are clearing out?" Sora nodded to Rinoa, running a towel over his still damp hair. He had removed the rest of his Fire Dance garb and pulled on his uniform from the rest of the day. Fortunately had had come prepared to get wet as they were working near the water, so he actually had a full change of clothes just in case. "Well, if you'd like, you could come spend the night at the hotel with me. Sq--Leon (that is really going to take some time to get used to) said that he'd give us a ride back to the school so that I can pick up my rental, and then I can drop you back there in the morning for your workout with Cloud."

Sora blinked at his aunt, a bit amazed. "You've been really buddy-buddy with them today, haven't you?" he asked.

"Well," Rinoa shrugged, giving a mysterious smile, "me and your guidance counselor go waaay back."

"I'm not getting details am I?"

"No until you're older," she winked.

Sora threw his hands up accepting defeat. "Fine. Anyway, just let me tell Riku that I'll be leaving with you and grabbing my stuff tomorrow."

"Wait, you spent the night at his house?"

Sora froze, cringing at the sudden parental tone. "Yeees," she said biting his lip as he looked back at her.

"And where did you sleep?"

"In his bed," Sora told her honestly, cringing more.

"Oh, you are definitely spending the evening with me," she told him raising a calculative eyebrow. "There are a few conversations we never got to have."

Sora's shoulders slumped as he nodded an acknowledgment to his aunt, turning to find Riku and his family.

"And you'd better not come back sporting any more hickeys than you already have, young man!" she called after him loudly. Sora's had flew to his neck, face flaming at the collection of laughs and catcalls that suddenly rained down on him. He hadn't even realized...

Embarrassed as he was however, he couldn't deny the strange pleasure he'd gotten from the moment. It had been a long time since he'd had a maternal influence in his life to call his own. There were several staff members and neighbors who were kind and motherly to him, but Rinoa was his. _His_ aunt, no one else's.

He smiled to himself shaking his head as he headed towards the Anakhulis, immediately catching Riku's eye even as he was yelling obscenities at one of his brothers. A moment later, after a meaningful look from his father, Riku settled down, shooting a final scathing glare at Kadaj before heading over to Sora.

"What's up," he asked, voice suddenly taking on a tender note.

Sora grinned at that, poking Riku playfully in the stomach. "Just wanted to let you know that I'm not going back with you guys tonight. Spending a little more time with Rin before she goes."

"That's probably for the best," Riku said glancing over his shoulder where his brothers were standing off to the side, watching and snickering. "You probably don't wanna be around for the bloodbath that will happen when we get home. I'll just swing by your place after your shift tomorrow night?"

There was a certain suggestiveness to the question that made Sora flush and gulp in sudden anxiety. "Or Monday morning when you come to pick me up would work, too," he squeaked.

It was Riku's turn to flush a little. "Right," he said in a quick verbal back pedal. "That'll work too." He regained his composure quickly, a smirk finding it's way back to his lips. "Anyway, I gotta go find Mowgli to do some debriefing." He pulled Sora into a quick bear hug, crushing the smaller boy's head with his arms and dropping a kiss on his damp head. "I'll call you okay?"

Sora nodded and watched him leave for a moment before turning to find Rinoa again before he started on his part of clean up.

-:- -:- -:-

Sunday morning. 6 a.m.

Sora found himself crawling from his bed in the hotel muttering obscenities under his breath as he did his best to get to the bathroom without waking his aunt. Of all days to wake up with morning wood...

Being a healthy teenage boy, this was not the first time that Sora had to deal with this little 'problem,' but never before had his physical desires been this...focused. He couldn't get the stupid Fire Dance out of his head, not to mention his and Riku's other interrupted venture at the end of the performance. He'd naturally had his curiosities about sex and the like before he'd ever met Riku, but never before had it seemed so pressing. It was like suddenly his libido was in overdrive and for the first time he understood what the hell everyone was talking about when they spoke of teens and hormones.

Stripping quickly, he stepped into the shower pausing as he debated how he wanted to handle the situation. On the one hand, his aunt was just on the opposite side of the door. A cold shower was probably the smartest route to take. On the other hand...he was starting to feel a touch bit frustrated by the repeated inattention he was paying himself.

Choices, choices.

Testing the waters, he allowed a hand to drift down. His breath hissed through his teeth as his fingers closed around sensitive flesh. He wasn't really going to do this was he? In his own apartment was one thing, but with Rinoa so close...just a few meters beyond that door...right after she had given him The Talk the night before...

His other hand reached out to turn on the water, tilting it so that a warm stream fell over him, humming at the feel of it flowing over his body. A couple of experimental strokes and he was beginning to convince himself that this idea was ok. His other hand pressed into the wall of the shower for balance as his hips began steadily rocking into his hand, the water making his grip slick. His mind wandered to Riku; the feel of his hands, the taste of his skin. What kinds of things would they do together as their relationship continued? He knew that neither of them were ready to go _all_ the way, but they were young; they were supposed to be experimenting with this stuff, right?

He wondered if Riku would touch him like this; wondered if Riku touched himself thinking about Sora. Probably, and oddly, that knowledge intensified the sensations, pulling a groan from Sora's throat. He hissed Riku's name as he circled a thumb over the sensitive head, whimpered slightly as he traced the slit there. How much more intense would these feelings be at the hands of another? People did insane things for the sake of sex. He wanted to know why. Was it really that much better than what one person could manage on their own?

He groaned again, throwing his head back as he squeezed at the base. He thought that he was doing a pretty damn good job by himself.

The water continued falling over him and his hand kept working, mind steadily losing track of all else as pressure built. He thought that he would get away with it clean and clear, but of course, life had different plans for him.

"Sora?" Rinoa's voice came with a firm knocking on the door. "Are you ok in there?"

Suffice it to say, Sora was definitely not ok. Moments before he had been a lot more than ok, but now he stood in the shower, hand still wrapped around himself, with a parental figure knocking from the other side. To make the situation perfect, he realized belatedly, that he hadn't locked the door when he came in. Even if the fogged glass would protect him from view, he was pretty sure he would die of embarrassment if his aunt walked in on him at that moment.

"I'm fine! Don't come it!" he called out quickly, voice breaking and a few pitches hire than it usually was.

"Are you sure?" she called. "It sounded like you were groaning. Are you hurt?"

"Rin, I'm fine. I swear!" He called in more normal tones. "I'll be out in a second!"

There was a pause. "Alright," she called. "If you're sure."

Sora sighed in relief, mortified, but still too excited to turn back now. At least it seemed that he might be able to make it seem like he'd just pulled a muscle or something.

"Just make sure to leave no trace of your mess behind, kiddo. The last thing I want is to step into teen splooge first thing in the morning."

"Aw man!"

He heard Rinoa's snickering beyond the door glaring daggers in her general direction even as his hips twitched in a decidedly less than satisfactory end to his session. Maybe he should rethink his opinion on family...

-:- -:- -:-

The rest of the morning was...awkward...for Sora at least. Rinoa on the other hand seemed to take great pleasure in having caught her nephew in the act.

"It's nothing to be embarrassed about," she insisted as they headed towards the school in her rented Aerora. "I mean you're fifteen years old, Sora. It's not like I didn't know you beat off upon occasion."

"CAN WE NOT TALK ABOUT THIS ANYMORE!" Sora screamed, covering his ears in an attempt to block out her words.

"About what, Sora?" Rinoa asked, innocently, eyes wide even as they watched the road. "Jacking off?" Sora shook his head frantically, pressing his hands more firmly against his ears, practically whimpering in denial. _Why can I still hear her?!_ "Spanking the money? Beating your meat? Fapping? MASTURBATION!"

"OH GOD!" Sora flung open his door, unbuckled his seatbelt, and threw himself from the passenger's seat all in one fluid movement. He hadn't even realized that they had come to a full stop in front of the school….a fortunate truth indeed.

"Alright, kid," Rinoa said, grinning as she leaned towards him from the driver's side. "My flight's at noon. I should be landing back in Midgar around five-ish. I'll call you when I get home, ok?"

The prospect of her departure somehow made the trauma from only moments before evaporate. This had been the second morning in a row that he had woken in a place with other people. He hadn't done that since his time with Roxas' family and even then, he was too sick to fully appreciate it. He was definitely getting used to the feeling of having others around. It stung a little that Rinoa was leaving him so soon. It had felt nice to feel almost normal again, finally having someone from his family to support him for one of the school events of the semester.

"Cool," he said, masking his bluer thoughts with a warm smile. "I have work after this, so I probably won't be home when you call, but I'll try to get back to you afterwards?"

"Alright," she told him. Now get over here and give me a hug." He leaned into the car returning the awkward squeeze and kiss to his cheek.

"I'm proud of you, Sora," she told him and she sounded a little misty. "You were amazing yesterday. I'm just...always amazed when I think about all that you are doing right now."

"C'mon, Rin," Sora said, blushing and pulling away, "don't go all soft on me. Don't you have a plane to catch or something?"

She just smiled at him, nodding and quickly swiping at her eyes. "Yeah, whatever."

He grabbed his things from the back seat, waving after her as the car pulled away. He watched until the car vanished down the hill where their school was, then turned with a sigh to make his way into the P.E. building.

As usual, Sora was the only person in the Blitz locker room as he changed. None of the other players had the need or desire to do the additional practice on Sunday morning, but Sora was fine with that. He enjoyed the time he had with the other swimmers. It was an open class for parents and students of Paopuan National, so it was a completely different feeling compared to the usual drama of high school sports. Best of all though was the time that he got to spend with Cloud afterwards. The blond was like a big brother to him, and, on that morning especially, he was really looking forward to the quasi-familial support.

If nothing else, he was hoping to get the chance to talk to Cloud about what had happened between Leon and Rinoa to have them behaving so strangely towards each other. Sora was still baffled by the weirdness between that group, but maybe if he played his cards right, he'd be able to get something out of Cloud.

The swimming portion of the lesson was just what Sora needed after the long weekend. Between Clayton's death wish for him during Friday night's Blitz game and then the fun of running around all day for the Demonstration, his muscles were bunched and angry. The slow pace he could take in the pool just swimming and stretching out his muscles helped to ease the tension in his body, calming the dull ache that was beginning to form in abused areas.

"So are you planning to try for that thing Jecht was talking about yesterday?" Cloud asked afterwards as they moved together to the weight room.

Sora paused, thinking a moment before answering. "I'm not really sure I get exactly what it is." he said at last. "I mean, it sounds awesome, and if things really are as awesome as they sound, then yeah. Definitely. I mean, what Mr. Mihana was talking about basically sounded like a free ticket into the professionals. That's not the kind of thing that comes along everyday. I mean, just think about what it could mean. Free ride through college, corporate sponsorship…as long as you have the skills, you'd be set."

"Or even the potential," Cloud pointed out. "I'm not sure if there is a age limit on who all can try out, but it would only make sense that whatever scouts who would be watching would be looking for more than just awesome playing skills, but also potential for growth."

"Which is the only way I'd stand a chance," Sora chuckled. "Most of the players on our Varsity team would wipe the floor with me."

Cloud just chuckled at that, shaking his head a little. "Your aunt is heading off this morning, right?" he asked, directing Sora to the bench press machine. Sora was very glad that it had been Cloud who brought up that particular subject.

"Yeah," he replied. "She had to get to the airport really early to turn in her car and get through security and everything."

Cloud hummed in response as he set the weights. "Since it's been a while since we've worked together, we're gonna take it nice and easy today, alright?"

Sora nodded his understanding, positioning his hands and preparing himself for his first set.

"So," he said as casually as he could manage, "what was up with you guys yesterday?"

"What do you mean?" Cloud replied sounding disinterested.

"I _mean_ the way she looked ready to gnaw on Leon's liver when they saw each other yesterday and then all three of you suddenly acting like best friends for life."

Cloud grunted at that description, quirking a smile before intoning, "We're just a group of likeminded adults in the same age bracket who happened to connect due to the long history between Leon and Rinoa."

Sora started up at Cloud flatly, "Why does that stink of 'feeder line to shut Sora up'?" he grumbled.

"Because that's exactly what it is," Cloud told him, lips stretching into a pleased smirk.

"You guys really aren't ever telling me what the hell happened are you?"

"I knew you were a smart kid," Cloud responded. "Now hit me with fifteen reps."

The morning proceeded as they always did, Sora working up a pleasant sweat, Cloud offering him comments, feedback and advice. By the time they finished the final cool down, Sora's muscles felt thoroughly worked, just a little shaky from the exertion. Even though Cloud had gone easy on him, it had still been a while since he had done that kind of work, and it would take a bit of time before he was used to it again.

"So I guess I'll see you tomorrow?" Sora said, walking with Cloud towards the Coaches' Office. There was always something for the swim coach to handle after their workout was done. Sora usually left with Cloud and the ever present Vincent still working around the locker room area.

Cloud nodded an affirmative as Sora headed off. "Good workout today, Sora," he called after him then vanished behind his door. Sora headed back to his locker to shower and prepare for work later in the day. He'd gotten the previous day off for the Demonstration, but he needed to get to Pearl for his Sunday shift. First, however, he needed to wash the chlorine out of his hair and off his skin.

He walked over to the showers to start the water since it always took a little time for it to warm up on weekends. He took his time changing, enjoying the silence around him. There was a separate locker room for the swimmers and most people who did the swim lessons chose to go home and bathe there. That meant that the P.E. complex was basically empty with the exception of a few scattered stragglers, Cloud, and Vincent. That knowledge always gave Sora a strange kind of satisfaction. There was just something really cool about being at school when no one else was for some reason.

He grabbed his shower shoes, shampoo and conditioner, soap, towel, and everything else he needed for a proper shower. He technically had time to go home to do it before going in to work at two o'clock, but it was easier to shower at the school and then walk or take the bus over to Roxas' or the beach to eat whatever lunch he had prepared for himself.

_Crap_.

He'd forgotten about lunch. He'd grabbed something light from the hotel's continental breakfast that morning, but with Rinoa being so nuts, he'd totally forgotten about his next meal. Oh well. He'd just call Riku and have him bring something. Ah, the benefits of being in a relationship.

He was just wrapping his towel around his waist to head over and ask Cloud if he could use the phone when he heard the locker room door open and close. There was the sound of shuffling feet, something that sounded like an impact against a locker, the sound of something hitting the floor then…

Silence…

Sora stood frozen in place, brows knit as he strained to listen over the sound of running water in the shower. He was having a hard time deciphering what he had just heard. Of course, like any rational teenage boy, he decided to secure his towel firmly around his waist and set out to investigate. He crept down his row of lockers, peeking his head around the corner to see if there was anyone there.

There wasn't.

The same was true of the next row he checked and the one after it as well, but as he peeked around the bank of lockers nearest to the showers, he was greeted with the last thing he expected to see.

"Bickson?" he called out in surprise. The other boy was a mess! His usually well-kept auburn hair fell over his shoulders in limp, oily strands. It looked like it had been at least a few days since he had last washed it. His clothes were rumpled, shoulders hunched; Sora had never seen anyone look so…broken.

In that moment, everything that Meg had told him flashed back through his mind. The situation with Bickson's mother, the fact that his father was a complete ass and then on top of that, he lost Blitzball as well. Even if it had been the boys own fault, it didn't make the situation any less frustrating; probably made it more so, actually.

Sora noted the duffel on the floor beside the older boy. It looked like he had come to clean out his locker at last. Maybe he was finally coming to terms with the situation. Maybe after a bit of time to think, he understood what he had done and was ready to accept the consequences. It was this process of thought that led Sora to speak his next words.

"Everyone's been looking for you, man." It wasn't exactly the truth, but close enough. He knew that Meg was still worried and apparently Raudy also had strong ties to the redhead. It seemed as good a means as any of drawing Bickson out, but unfortunately, it didn't work. Sora wasn't sure how he should proceed. By all logic, he should just go get Cloud and let him handle things. Sora was supposed to be keeping away from Bickson anyway. He was turning, again intending to go to the Coaches' Office when he noticed something.

"Hey," he said, frowning at the way the older boy's shoulders where beginning to shake. He wasn't crying was he? "You alright?" Sora reached out a hand to lay gently on Bickson's arm in concern. The response was immediate and more than slightly unexpected.

His back collided with the lockers behind him as he raised a hand to his suddenly throbbing cheek. Bickson was glaring at him from the bench through his lanky bangs, arm still lifted after the vicious backhand.

"Of all people to be here right now," Bickson said, shoulders again shaking in bitter laughter. "I don't believe this shit."

"Right," Sora said, probing the corner of his bottom lip with his tongue, tasting blood. "Should have known better than to bother with you," he muttered, turning to walk away. He didn't want or need to take abuse from the volatile upperclassmen. Cloud would handle it and Sora would get back to his shower.

"You trying to tell me you were actually trying to make me feel better, dipshit?" Bickson spit at his back. "This shit is _your_ fault in the first place."

Sora knew he should have just walked away. Bickson was clearly trying to push his buttons and get a rise out of him. He should have just let it go, but for some reason he couldn't. Ever since he had found out about the other boy's situation, his view of Bickson had shifted considerably. Suddenly he wasn't just the asshole bully who picked fights for no reason, he was a kid who grew up in a home without love; a son who loved his mother and was willing to make sacrifices for her sake. That alone created a connection between them in Sora's mind.

He thought back to the day he had seen Bickson at Way to Dawn with his mother. The person he'd seen there was gentle, happy even. It was a glimpse behind the older boy's masks, proof that there was more to him than the perpetual rage. It made him more human. They were not so different in many ways. Maybe that's why Sora couldn't stand for the fact that Bickson seemed to try and blame others for his problems. Life was crappy sometimes, yes, but that didn't mean he could just take his anger out on the rest of the world.

"_I'm_ not the one who can't control his temper in the tank, Bickson," he snapped, turning back to face the way he had started. "I'm not the one who almost _kills_ people because he got shown out in a game. I get that you have shit going on in your life, but that doesn't give you free leave to do whatever the hell you want whenever the hell you want to! How do you think your _mother_ would feel if she knew how you've been actin—"

A little too late, Sora realized that his last sentence might not have been the best thing to say to the older, larger, stronger, angrier boy. This fact was illustrated by the way he found himself pinned to a locker by the neck, Bickson's face looming in front of him.

"What the _fuck_ do you know about it!?" Bickson slammed him against the locker again to emphasize the question, the handle on the door digging painfully into his spine. He would have gladly answered, but the hand around his neck was cutting off his air. As it was, his vision was getting a bit fuzzy around the edges and it was all he could do to put up any kind of struggle at all.

"You know _nothing_, you little shit!" Bickson snarled in Sora's face, flecks of spittle flying in his rage. "Don't even _think_ that you can talk to me like you know me!"

The fist that slammed into Sora's stomach served to both knock what little air was left in his body from his lungs as well as jam his spine into the locker nub behind him. The combination was excruciating. All he could do was fall to the floor wheezing as involuntary tears squeezed themselves from his tightly shut eyes.

There was a snicker from above him and he managed to get an eye open enough to get a glimpse of Bickson's face. His blood chilled at the manic, _pleased_ gleam in the redhead's eyes as he loomed over Sora. There was something very wrong with that. No one should get that excited from attacking another person, but it looked like Bickson was settling into the idea. Sora knew that he needed to get some distance between them and soon.

He was half expecting the kick that landed on his hip, and managed to roll with it a little as it came, using the added momentum to roll to his knees in an attempt to get the hell away. The attempt was in vain. Even as he struggled to rise to his feet, he felt a foot on his rear give a powerful shove, sending him head first into the corner of the lockers ahead of him.

White light exploded behind his eyes, all else blinking from thought with the sudden impact. He must have blacked out for a moment because the next thing he was aware of was a stinging, pulling sensation in his scalp even as his head pounded painfully with every beat of his racing heart. There was a trail of something warm running over one side of his face, and Bickson was speaking.

"…could be good after all. If I'm out of the game for good, there's no way in hell I'm gonna let a piece of shit like you stay in. Yeah. You'll never set foot in another tank again after I'm done with you."

The pressure on his scalp suddenly released and it was only then that he realized that Bickson had been dragging him by the hair across to locker room floor. Without the support, his head came crashing back down to the floor, and as white light sparked again behind his eyes, he felt his stomach heave. He just managed to turn his head as he threw up his meager breakfast all over himself.

"Sick," He heard Bickson say under his breath.

Again there was dragging, pulling, pain. The sound of the shower seemed to get louder and then he felt the shift in texture as he was pulled into the shower area. He tried to get his voice back. Cloud and Vincent both were still just down the hall. If he could make enough noise, they would hear him and get the situation under control. All he could manage however were pained groans, helpless and disoriented, as he was dragged along.

He felt the warm water as he was pulled under the spray and it was only then that he realized that he had lost his towel somewhere along the way. He opened his mouth to cry out in surprise, eyes struggling open only to be met with hot water. It went down his throat and he rolled to his side choking.

Laughter reached his ears through the fall of water, and then there was a hand on his arm pulling him roughly to his feet and shoving him against the shower wall.

"Aww…looks like the baby has a boo-boo," Bickson cooed into his ear, pressing him more firmly into the wall from behind. Sora cried out as his arm was twisted painfully behind him, vision hazy, thoughts sluggish. "Should I help you out with that?"

His arm was twisted again, his shoulder joints protesting loudly to the rough treatment.

"But you know what, little queer?" Bickson asked, panting against the back of his neck. "If you really were looking to help me out, I think I might have just thought of something you could do."

Sora's mind was muddled, vision glazed. Nothing was processing properly in his mind, but there was one thing that made itself very clear in that moment. Bickson was still fully clothed, but he too stood in the spray of warm water from the shower. It was easy to feel the telling bulge that was being pressed against his hip as the water caused the other boy's shorts to cling to his skin.

There was a part of Sora that fully understood what was about to happen; part of him that tried to fight, but his body felt like lead. His responses were slow, thoughts muddled and the pain coming from his shoulder where Bickson held his arm was completely incapacitating. He groaned in frustration, Bickson's cruel laughter hot against his ears.

"Mmm…" Sora's stomach turned as he felt Bickson grind against his naked backside. "It's about time I put your queer ass to good use."

-:- -:- -:-

"Dad, I'm going out," Riku said poking his head into his father's study.

"Where are you going?" Sephiroth asked, looking up from the documents he was reviewing. Though he had relocated to the islands, he still oversaw the major decisions of his business, and with Kadaj being on vacation, there was all the more for him to check in order to ensure things continued running smoothly with Serifim.

"Just into town," Riku said with a small shrug. "I was gonna see if Sora's done with his stuff for the morning."

Sephiroth watched him for a moment, pulling off his glasses and leaning back in his chair. "You seem to be spending a lot of time with this boy," the older man commented, scrutinizing his son.

Riku shifted uncomfortably under his father's gaze. He was used to his dad asking him questions about his life, but this was the first time they'd ever had a relationship discussion. Riku wasn't quite sure how to feel about talking with Sephiroth about that particular aspect of his life.

"Yeah," he said in response to the comment, "I guess so."

"Are you in love with him?"

Riku almost fell over in surprise. "Dad! We've been dating for a _week._"

"And?" The older man was treating the situation as if they were discussing the behavior of some mutant species of tofu and not Riku's love life.

"And what?" he snapped. "I'm not trying to think about stuff like that right now! I mean, I'm _sixteen_! I'm not even supposed to know what love _is_ yet. Why would you ask me that after a week of us finally deciding to try something?"

"Riku, come sit for a moment." Sephiroth requested smoothly.

"Dad, c'mon, can't this wait for later? I'm just gonna—" Riku would have said more, but his father leveled a glare at him, and anyone with any common sense at all knew better than to argue with that glare. Loz had argued with it before. Then he woke up one day with 99 less hair than he had when he went to sleep. It had never grown back out to even close to its original length after that…

"Yes sir," Riku sighed, sitting down in one of the chairs in front of his father's desk. They sat in silence for a moment just looking at one other before Sephiroth finally decided to speak.

"How long do you think it takes to fall in love, Riku?"

Riku blinked a moment before answering. "I have no clue. A long time?"

"It can," came the response. "Sometimes it can take years for one to realize their love. Sometimes it may take moments. I was not overly fond of your mother when we first met. There perhaps did not exist a more contrary pair that she and I. It is a miracle we did not kill each other in the first years of our partnership. Building a company is a very stressful endeavor, yet she proved herself more than competent and over time, I found that I could not imagine a life without her by my side."

He paused there, and Riku watched his father in concern. He could see the carefully hidden pain those words had brought for him and that was enough for Riku to wait patiently and listen to what his father was trying to explain to him.

"Relationships will come and go," Sephiroth continued after a moment. "What you feel for this Sora may change over time, there will be pain. I just want to be sure that you understand the risk and consequences of any actions you take and that said risks are well worth it."

Riku thought about that for a bit. There was always an added threat to opening yourself up to other people. Riku understood this. He'd lived for years in fear of just that, but things had changed over the past months. Since meeting Sora, he had opened up more to the people around him than he ever had before. To his great surprise…he rather liked it. There were irritating things that came hand-in-hand with other people of course, but it was cool getting to really socialize for once. As awkward as the beginning of their relationship had been, there was no way that he would ever regret getting involved with Sora.

He understood that there were risks involved. He knew that there was a lot he would have to be wary of, but he also knew that Sora was someone he could trust; someone he felt comfortable opening up to. Having the chance to experience that was well worth all of the risks.

"You're getting all Hallwark on me, dad," Riku said, as always avoiding anything that could be taken as overemotional. "Where's all of this coming from anyway?"

Sephiroth allowed the evasion, leaning forward to rest is chin over his interlaced fingers. A slow smile pulled its way onto Sephiroth's face, a smile that Riku knew could only spell bad things for him with the sentence to follow.

"Your brothers showed me the most interesting recording this morning."

-:- -:- -:-

Once he had done his part in seeing to it that certain members of his family would never have the option to procreate, Riku finally managed to get out of the house and make his way towards the school. There was a part of him that was a little worried about making an appearance. The previous night, Sora had implied that he didn't want to see Riku until Monday, but there was a good chance that he'd just been flustered at that moment. Riku was pretty sure that his presence would be welcome.

I could be a surprise. He was hoping to drop Sora's stuff back at the brunet's apartment and then maybe take him out for lunch somewhere so that they could just hang out for a bit before Sora had to go to work. He knew that Sora usually finished his work with Cloud around eleven from other times when they had talked, so that would give a good three hours of play time that Riku fully intended to take up.

If it weren't for his other distractions, Riku would have made it to the school a bit early, but as it was, he didn't pull into the parking lot until a little after eleven. There were a few other scattered vehicles, but for the most part, the place was empty. He could hear the water running in the showers when he made his way into the Blitzball locker room, and a devilish smirk pulled at his lips at the delightful opportunity that had just presented itself.

Riku _could_ be a gentleman about it and wait for Sora by his locker until he was done with his shower…OR he could sneak a peak and maybe scare the shit out of him in the process. It really wasn't a difficult decision to make.

He smirked a bit broader as he made his way towards the showers, rather pleased with himself. The smirk vanished however, when he noticed something on the floor. It was a red smear near the back walk of the room leading to the showers. Blood?

Riku's brows knit in concern. Did the blood belong to Sora? What could he have possibly done to himself to bleed enough to drip like that?

With growing trepidation, Riku walked down the row of lockers to get a better look. What greeted him at the end did not do anything to ease his worries: a spattering of vomit on the floor, trailing, also leading to the showers. He was beyond concern by now. There was worry and the beginnings of fear eating through his chest.

"Sora?" he called, hurrying over to the showers to see if the smaller boy was there, and he froze at the sight that greeted him instead. Sora was there, and so was Travis Bickson. There was blood smeared in various places against the wall where Sora was being pressed, Bickson's hips making very telling motions against Sora's naked form.

The world faded after that. Riku remembered…white noise. Rage like he'd never felt before. The next thing he was fully aware of was being soaked through with cooling water, and someone holding him back telling him repeatedly that something was "enough." His throat was raw, as if he'd been screaming, and Bickson was on the floor, bleeding from the mouth, arms curled around his middle. What had just happened? How much time had passed?

"You back with us?" Cloud's calm voice broke into the chaos in his head and he realized then to whom the arms holding him belonged. That served to snap his thoughts back into focus. Riku nodded once and Cloud released his hold.

"Good," the blond man said. "We need you to call an ambulance while we handle things here."

We? Riku looked to the opposite side of the shower area where he saw Vincent kneeling beside a collapsed Sora. That made sense. There was supposed to be medical personnel working any time the pool was open. His first instinct was to rush over to Sora's side to make sure he was okay, but he found himself halted again by Cloud's strong grip.

"The best thing you can do for him now is to call an ambulance and the police. Riku," Cloud's voice was hard as Riku made to pull himself away to get to Sora anyway. "Ambulance. Go."

He was shoved soundly out of the showers, hair falling wetly in his face as he looked out at the empty locker room. What the _hell_ had just happened?!

With shaking hands, he reached into his back pocket to pull out his cell phone. It was a little damp from water soaking through his jeans, but undamaged. Contrary to Cloud's command, he did not call an ambulance immediately. In his family, things like this were oddly common. Not for Riku, but his brothers regularly found themselves in bad situations somehow. If the police were ever be involved, they all had been instructed to always call their father first.

"Yes?" Sephiroth's smooth voice answered after two rings.

"Dad?" Riku was shocked at how unsteady his voice sounded. He felt almost ashamed hearing the contrast between the control in Sephiroth's voice, and that served to ground him a bit more. "Dad, something just happened…"

-:- -:- -:-

**A/N:**

Uh…sorry guys, this turned out to be way more of a cliffie that I had planned it to be…yah…just in time for me to not have a whole lot of time as I am moving out of the country where I am currently living in like…3 days…oops. I'll try for a soonish update, but I can make no promises. We are finally getting to the good stuff though XD


	17. Ch 14: Tension Down

Standard Disclaimer: If I draw them all enough, maybe one day they'll be mine…but I'm not holding my breath

**Standard Disclaimer:** Disclaimed

**Notes: **Yay for grad school! That means I have less and less time to write! WEEEE XD

**Warnings:** Gratuitous use of Disney and Square characters, language, at least one homosexual relationship, bigoted ass-holes, semi non-con encounters, made-up culture and language, lots of Blitzball, and general teen awkwardness. Enjoy!

-:-finem-:-

**Life on the Blitz**

**Chapter 1****4****: **

**Tension Down**

Post Demonstration Sunday was one of the greatest days of the year as far as any student at Paopuan National was concerned. After the long weeks of work that culminated in the Demonstration itself, most were exhausted, bone weary like they never dreamed was possible. For a lot of them, the Demonstrtion had been the first time they had ever been required to collaborate and put so much effort towards a single event in their lives. The crappy part about that was the lingering fatigue and body aches that would be plaguing many of them for weeks to come. The bonus however: complete and totally parental amnesty.

The previous evening had been more than just a cultural demonstration for the tourist population of the islands. Students had the opportunity to show their parents all the work they had been doing over the course of the semester. Even those who maybe didn't have the highest grades or best work to show still managed to prove in some way that they cared about their culture and heritage. That was the kind of stuff that every parent _dreamed_ of for their kid. With so much positivity spawned from such hard work, moms, dads, and guardians of all kinds where satisfied to let their little workers have the following day to rest. Recovery was key, and even if the coming week would mean business as usual once again, at least there was that one day

Roxas Capiz was taking full advantage of that magical Sunday. He lay buried under piles of bedding, face shoved into his pillow, blissfully oblivious to the world as he did his best to sleep off the weeks of tension and stress. Of course, the sources of his tension were slightly different than those of his fellow classmates, and technically, he wasn't at a point where he could really rid himself of all the causes. Still, he'd been given a freebie sleep day. He was planning to take full advantage. He'd made it very clear the previous night when they'd all gotten home that if anyone dared wake him a moment before noon, limbs would be lost. Roxas was not responsible for the beast he became when his REM was interrupted.

That is, of course, why he was very confused to find himself quite awake at eleven o'clock on that sacred Sunday morning, staring at Hayner, who was standing in his room.

"What the hell are you doing in my room?" Roxas croaked, still partially asleep, possibly dreaming the whole thing but guessing that he wasn't based on the full intensity of harshness coming from the midday sun. Hayner smirked, and tossed something onto Roxas' bed before heading to the corner of the room where Roxas had set up his TV.

"I need to use your GameStation," the taller blond said, flopping down into Roxas' old green bean bag.

"And you couldn't use yours, why?"

"Broken. You playin'?"

There really was no arguing with logic like that.

By now, some of the fog that had been clouding Roxas' brain was beginning to dissipate. He remembered enough to realize that the thing Hayner had tossed on his bed was decidedly game-case shaped, and he thought he'd caught a flash of a familiar logo. To verify this information, Roxas reached down to pick up the object in question.

"Struggle Tournament 3?" he asked, mind looping for a moment. "I thought this wasn't supposed to be out until Wednesday."

"My mom knows a guy at CubeInex," he said. "Got me an early copy. I was gonna tell you last weekend…"

..but we all know what happened last weekend.

The thought went unspoken, but the air in the room was suddenly far more awkward as it danced circles around Roxas' head. There it was, the primary source of his stress over the past week. An argument that had seemed so simple yet had somehow turned into the huge mess that they had on their hands with nothing to wipe it off on but their own pants.

"Well?"

Roxas blinked, realizing that while his thoughts had been drifting, Hayner had gotten the system running and waiting at the game options menu. "Sorry," he muttered, straightening his gray shorts and tee as he climbed out of bed and settled in the floor chair next to his bean bag.

He couldn't help the smile that pulled at his lips as he tried to get more comfortable. It had been a while…

He and Hayner used to be in the exact same places almost daily back in middle school. It hadn't been so much a habit as an expectation. Weekends meant game tournaments at Roxas' or Hayner's depending on who had lost the previous round. Pence would keep talley of wins and losses, Olette would decide who the night went to if there was somehow a tie. In the beginning, it had been between the four of them, but in the end, Roxas and Hayner took the competition far more seriously than their other friends and it was decided very easily to be a contest between two.

That was back when they'd all had nothing better to do with their time. After graduation, things had changed. It started with Blitz Camp. Between the long days and intense workouts, both had just been too tired to do much of anything usually. When High School began in full swing, time had become even more constrained, especially since they didn't share as many classes as they had before. Blitz schedule meant that free time needed to be spent doing homework and not playing video games. Even so, they had managed to hang out at least once a week outside of practice and even did homework together upon occasion. Roxas couldn't believe it had almost been a month since Hayner had been to his house last.

"So in this one, what's-his-face is back, _again_ trying to steal the power of the four crystal trophy, but since we scattered the crystals in the last game, he's staging _this_ Tournament to try to get the guardians of each crystal to reveal themselves so that he can get the crystals back, combine their power and do whatever the hell he's been trying to do with the damn thing from the beginning.

Cool thing about this version of the game is…"

Roxas settled more into his seat, smiling despite himself at the way Hayner had claimed the beanbag— which they usually almost came to fists over—without batting a lash. He listened as Hayner continued detailing the changes in the game, tension easing from his muscles bit by bit. Hayner's eyes were focused on the TV screen, but his posture was relaxed, and that's how it always worked with fights between Roxas and Hayner. There would be anger, and hurt feelings, and then it would be over. Things would just suddenly be back to normal again.

"So is the Ax into this shit or what?"

Roxas blinked…'The Ax?'

He was reasonably awake by now but he had not been out of bed long enough for his brain to be fast enough to process that one off the bat. There was a long moment during which the grinding of gears in Roxas' head was almost audible—to Roxas at least—and then there was an equally almost audible click.

"Axel." Right. Axel. One of the topics of discussion from the weekend that would likely never be spoken of again. The one piece of this problem that said maybe there was no such thing as 'normal,' as Roxas had once known it, anymore. "Uh…yeah, I guess so," Roxas said, more than a little thrown by the inclusion of a foreign element into the pool of nostalgia that had been steadily growing around him. "Don't know if he's any good though."

"Perfect," Hayner said, turning a predatory grin toward Roxas. "Call him. I feel like handing someone else their ass on a platter for once."

Roxas stared at Hayner for a long, silent moment. Hayner stared at Roxas. There was a lot communicated in that simple demand and the pause that followed. The air was momentarily infused with awkwardness, regret, forgiveness, with a hint of sorrow, but overall, there was a sense of change. Years later, both would look back on the moment and know that their lives had somehow shifted then, even though neither could possibly know how or put into words why.

"You must be talking about a different game," Roxas said, breaking the silence and the eye contact as he hefted himself into a standing position. "Last I checked _I_ wasn't the one with seven consecutive losses last time we played, _three_ of those to Olette who barely ever even plays the game! Get out of champion's seat, loser!" He shoved Hayner as he passed, sending his friend toppling over with a surprised yelp.

"That time didn't count!" Hayner shouted in response through a mouth full of carpet. He righted himself. "That was the day my mom had me hauling packages up that hill on Main Street for my uncle! My arms were jello! And you _know_ Olette kicks all of our asses at Strike Rader so don't gimme that bullshit!"

"I don't need to give you bullshit," Roxas shot back at him. "You bring enough of that with you on your own."

Roxas was reaching for the phone on his nightstand to call Axel, as requested, but to his surprise, the phone rang before he even touched it, Axel's cell phone number flashing on the caller ID.

"Axel?"

"Rox, hey. Are you dressed?"

Roxas frowned at Axel's unusually serious tone of voice. "Not yet, but I can be. Why?"

"I'm on my way over. Riku just called me…"

Struggle Tournament 3 was put on hold for the day.

-:- -:- -:-

Rinoa Heartilly had imagined many things for her life when she had moved away from home at eighteen to go to college. She had avoided the military path her father wanted her to follow, determined to find a career that would be able to make a difference in the world of corruption she had borne witness to all her life. She'd managed to get far on her own skills for years; had nearly attained all of the goals she had been striving for.

When she had found out about her father's brief affair and the consequent brother that was created as a result, she had looked into it. The fact that the sordid mess had happened in the location of her top choice for graduate schools seemed like fate. She had no clue what ignoring her father's request for her to drop the matter would lead to. How could she have known that her brother would pass leading to a chain of events that would change her plans for herself completely?

Rinoa had never expected to, at age twenty-six, be the primary guardian of a teenager. She never thought that she would have the responsibility of worrying about another's well being the way she did for Sora; figured that motherhood would not be a part of her life in any way until she was at least thirty years of age. She had accepted the change of plans easily enough and thought that she had settled into her new life fairly well. She was balancing her goals with her new responsibilities and was fairly certain that she would be able to manage supporting herself as well as Sora once she solidified her current job situation. Shinra was the first step in everything she was trying to do. She just needed to finish the last three months of the required probationary period and then she would really be able to move within the company.

When she was standing in line preparing to board her return flight to Midgar and her cell phone rang, she found that she had no idea how to respond to the news she received; yet another unexpected turn of events. Even as she made her way back out of the airport, even as she used her credit card to rent another car to drive to the hospital, she wasn't sure what to do. She had dealt with her brother being pronounced missing and then dead years before, but Sora in the hospital after being attacked at school? She had no clue how to respond to that. Her mind was in a sort of calm chaos as she made her way into the main entrance of Destiny Medical Center.

"What happened? Where is he? Can I see him?" The questions fell from her mouth like rain as soon as she saw Squall—who she decided would never be 'Leon'— waiting for her in the first floor lobby. His presence was a relief. Even though she had several friends and acquaintances on the island, Squall was different. They understood each other in ways that no one else could and that alone made it worlds better that he was there to greet her.

"They've taken him in to the ICU," he told her. "Apparently he lost consciousness on the way over in the ambulance and the doctors are trying to figure out how bad things are."

"God, Squall, what happened?" she asked again as he led her to the elevators.

"I'm not actually one hundred percent sure," he admitted. "I'm guessing you know about the problems Sora was having with one of the students on the Blitzball team."

Rinoa nodded, recalling Sora's irritation over some of the players on the team, but the way Sora had told it, the situation seemed to have been under control.

"Well the same guy who attacked him last time came after him again."

"Wait," Rinoa paused as they stepped out of the elevator. "Attacked? What are you talking about? He told me that some of the team members didn't like him. He never said anything about an attack."

Squall sighed shaking his head. "I'm guessing he hasn't been completely honest with you about how bad things were getting for a while," he said, taking her hand and leading her forward.

"What are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about Travis Bickson almost killing Sora during practice a few of weeks back."

"WHAT?!" her mind was reeling. She knew that Sora was keeping things from her the keep her from worrying, but how could he have said _nothing_ about something so serious?! How could _Squall_ have said nothing about something so serious?!

"As an independent, it wasn't my place to interfere with his decisions at that point…" the brunet began, apparently following her line of thought.

"He is a fifteen year old _boy_, Squall," Rinoa snapped in response to his words. "You are his guidance counselor. How could you _not_ interfere with his decision-making. Isn't it your job to guide him?!"

"Rinoa," Squall said calmly, "It was his choice and now is not the time to arguing about it."

Chastened only marginally, Rinoa backed off, taking a couple of calming breaths in an attempt to rein in her thoughts. "Wait," she said running through the information she'd just received again in her mind, "did you say Bickson? As in Clarence Bickson's kid?"

"One and the same," came the confirmation as Squall lead her into a small private waiting room near the ICU.

The room was actually already fairly full. She saw Cloud speaking quietly with a tall, pale man with black hair that cascaded over his shoulders. Riku was there, his three brothers standing guard around him looking very dangerous. Riku himself looked pale and haunted. His eyes were glassy as he sat there holding a cup of something that was steaming in his hands and she noticed the blanket that was wrapped around his shoulders. He looked like he'd gotten wet somehow.

There was another dark-haired woman present, but Rinoa had no time to dwell on that as Cloud walked over to her.

"Rinoa," he said in greeting, "how are you holding up?"

"I'd be a whole lot better if I could get some answers," she replied truthfully.

"Hopefully they'll be able to help," Squall said. "Cloud and Vincent were there. Everything I know is second hand."

Rinoa nodded, turning to look at the two other men expectantly. Cloud was the one who spoke first.

"Vincent is one of the medics who works for the school," he began. "With the swimming programs that the school has, we are required to have medical personnel available whenever the pool or Blitzball tank are open. We both work Sundays for the swim lessons. That's why he's here. I was just working in my office, talking care of some paperwork when the screaming started."

"Screaming?" Rinoa asked with raised brows.

"Yes. Screaming," Cloud told her. "The locker rooms are on either side of the coaches' offices and sound carries pretty well through the whole complex. I ran to see what the hell was going on and met up with Vince on the way. When we got to the showers, Riku was just laying into Bickson, screaming and swearing, and Sora was collapsed in one of the stalls bleeding from a head wound."

"Oh God," Rinoa groaned, leaning against Squall for support.

"It's ok," Squall said. "Vincent was there to take care of him before the ambulance arrived."

Rinoa looked to the pale man standing beside Cloud.

"He will likely need stitches for the gash, but I don't think the injury was too severe," he said in a deep quiet voice. "I believe he has a moderate concussion. The doctors here will be able to gauge better if there is any more severe damage, but I believe there are high chances for full recovery."

Rinoa relaxed some at this news, nodding her thanks.

"There is one other thing."

She looked again to Cloud concerned at the solemn tone of his voice. "What is it?"

He hesitated a moment longer as though looking for the best way to phrase what he was going to say next.

"When we got to the showers," he began at last, "Riku was screaming a lot of things. From what he was saying, part of the reason he was so angry was that Travis was apparently trying to…force himself on Sora. We're pretty sure Riku made it there before anything happened, but if Sora remembers anything of even the attempt, there could be a lot of emotional ramifications."

Rinoa felt any remaining blood drain from her face and quickly found an empty seat to drop into. She breathed again in an attempt to settle her nerves, counting on long years of practice to keep her emotions well under control.

"Alright," she said at last, doing her best to order her thoughts. "Alright. So now what? Has anyone spoken to a doctor yet?"

Before her questions could be answered, the door to the room swung open again and Clarence Bickson himself stepped into the small waiting area followed by a small entourage of others. The man was tall, strongly built with olive skin, and hair that was a deep, almost brown red. His piercing grey eyes scanned the room quickly before settling on Riku who was still looking shaken, focusing down into his cup and ignoring all else.

The older Bickson stormed towards Riku, extending a hand to grab him by the shirt. Of course, the hand never made contact. All three of Riku's brothers had intercepted the man, the youngest grabbing and holding the offending hand while the others held the attorney's bodyguards at bay. Shoving the intruders back, the brother's formed a physical wall between the group and Riku.

"I don't know what you think that's going to accomplish!" the older man spit at them all. "Your daddy can't protect him from this. I'm bringing everything that I am down on that little shit! I saw what you did to my boy!" This he directed at Riku who still had not looked up from his cup. "I'm suing your entire family for all you are worth, and I will do everything in my power to see to it that you have a nice long stay in a juvenile detention center you—"

"That's enough."

"Back off!"

Rinoa looked up in surprise at the other voice that spoke up at the same time as hers. She looked over and met eyes with the other woman in the room; warm brown skin, red and blue denim and dark eyes.

"Mr. Bickson," Rinoa continued after a small nod from the other woman, "You are in no place to be making threats here. It was your son who started this, and considering his history with my nephew, I hope you're prepared to represent Travis in court, because from what I know of the situation, he is looking at at least two counts of aggravated assault, sexual assault, and possibly attempted murder."

The older male did not appear the least bit intimidated by Rinoa's words, which only infuriated her more.

"So you're _that_ one's family," Mr. Bickson sneered. The particular inflection of 'that' made the word a clear insult and Rinoa felt her temper spike. He ran his eyes over her with an air of contempt, chuckling lightly as he turned to leave the room. "As far as I'm concerned, my boy's dealings with your nephew are one of the few things he's managed to get right for once."

That was enough to snap the tether. Rinoa felt hot rage flood her veins as she tried to move towards the condescending asshole. This was not the first time she had witnessed the arrogance of Clarence Bickson. In her internships, she had run across him a couple of times, each always leaving a bitter taste at the back of her throat, but this? This was beyond insult, beyond injury. He was spitting in the face of everything she believed in and cared about, and she would _not_ allow the slight to go unpunished.

Unfortunately, Squall was there holding her back, stepping in her path as her eyes bore holes into the retreating man's tailored suit. She was shaking with, fury; so angry consequences meant nothing to her. How _dare_ he? How could he stand there and put down his own son _and_ dismiss the suffering Travis had brought on Sora all in one breath? Suddenly, the fault of the entire situation lay in one place, and the ass wasn't even willing to acknowledge it!

Mr. Bickson pulled the door open to exit, completely unaware of the angel of vengeance held at bay behind him by a very thin leash. However, the figure that greeted him just beyond the threshold was perhaps less righteous, but equally furious and perhaps even more lethal. Sephiroth's rage was cold in comparison to Rinoa's, a chill wash through the entire room as the two titans faced off. There was no ignoring in this battle. All parties present knew that Sephiroth's power and influence on the islands easily out reached that of Clarence Bickson even as Bickson did his best to hold his ground.

"This is a private waiting room," Sephiroth's cool voice spoke after a long, pregnant pause.

"And if you would remove yourself from my path," Bickson responded in clipped tones, "I would be happy to vacate."

Smoothly as a well-oiled piston, Sephiroth slid aside and allowed the small group to exit.

"Clarence," Sephiroth said before the other man got too far. Bickson tuned back, waiting expectantly. "You will stay away from my sons."

There was a clear threat to the words, one that the elder Bickson was smart enough to recognize. His eyes narrowed just slightly in a small show of defiance before he turned and made his way back down the hall to the nurses' station.

"Good," the mysterious dark haired woman broke the silence, stepping forward to meet Sephiroth as he entered the room. "Now that you're here, I can get the questioning over with. I jumped through a lot of hoops to make sure this investigation goes the way it is supposed to Sephiroth, but I can't hold this off for much longer."

"Thank you, Detective Maza," Sephiroth said in a far more cordial voice than Rinoa would have expected from the businessman, "but I'm sure everyone present would like to hear from the doctor first."

He stepped further into the room. Only then did the others present notice that there was a woman just behind him. She was tall and slender, a cascade of honey brown hair falling down her back. The air in the room changed entirely when she entered. The ice vanished and a sort of warmth came in the wake of her gentle smile.

"Is the family of Sora Holani present?" she asked as she scanned the faces in the room, pausing at Rinoa and giving a small nod as she stepped towards her.

"Um, yes," Rinoa said, finding her voice again after the rather abrupt change in moods. "I'm Sora's aunt."

"I'm doctor Lucrecia Crescent," the woman said. "I've been overseeing Sora's care. May I speak here or would you like to move to a more private setting?"

"Here's fine," Rinoa said without needing to think about it. Everyone in the waiting room was connected to Sora in some way and she trusted them all well enough. The exception was the police detective and she would need to know this information eventually anyway, so there was no point in barring her from it.

Dr. Crescent nodded again before speaking. "Your nephew suffered a fairly strong blow to the head in addition to several other relatively minor injuries. He has a strained shoulder, a twisted ankle and moderate to severe bruising in places around his back and abdomen.

"The head wound, however, is our biggest concern at this point," she continued. "The fact that he lost consciousness for as long as his he has is a point of concern. His MRI came back clear of any internal bleeding within his skull, but we are going to keep him over night for observation."

Rinoa nodded, rubbing a hand across her eyes. That had all been pretty straight forward, none of the confusing technical jargon she'd feared. Dr. Crescent seemed to understand that the last thing worried family needed was the additional concern of not understanding the injuries of their loved one.

"When can we see him?" she asked next.

"He's being moved to a private room at the moment," came the immediate response. "I'll send someone over to let you know as soon as he's settled."

"Wait, what?" Rinoa said in confusion. In the heat of her concern, she hadn't been thinking about things like how she was going to pay for Sora's treatment. She figured she'd cross that bridge once she got there, but the mention of a private room finally brought the concern to the forefront of her mind. That was not a common allowance for patients. Private rooms were available on request, but also were usually outrageously expensive.

"Who is paying for all of this?" she asked, immediately looking to Sephiroth with wide eyes.

The older man nodded just slightly. "Riku informed me of the situation after the first incident. I am fortunately in a position to provide heath care services for individuals beyond my family. It is not at all an imposition."

Rinoa again grabbed at her head, mind reeling. Her eyes turned to Riku, still pale and drawn and that served to kick something else into gear in her mind. This was the second time apparently that Riku had helped Sora out of a bad situation. She would have to be blind to not see how close the two had become and she couldn't imagine what it must have been like for Riku to step into this latest situation and see what he had seen. The poor thing had to be traumatized in his own right, but there he was, surrounded by a wall of his family, solidly protected, but in obvious need of more than that. Clearly the Anakhulis had been too long without a maternal influence.

Ignoring the three sentinels standing guard around him, Rinoa squatted on the floor in front of Riku and took his face in her hands, lifting it so that his eyes met hers.

"Riku, sweetie," she began in gentle tones. "How are you holding up?"

She watched as he tried to turn away from her, avoiding her gaze and not answering. Rinoa would have none of that. There was something clearly bothering Riku and she would not let his feelings go unnoticed any longer than they already had.

"Riku," she said again, turning his face to meet hers once more. "What is it?"

He tried to speak, but only a small wheeze came out. After a sip from his cup, he tried again. "He's going to be alright, isn't he?" Riku asked in a quiet voice, a slight tremor making itself known at the end of the question. "There was so much blood," he continued. "Sora's not gonna die, is he?"

When Riku looked up at her, the eyes that she saw were not those of the self-assured young man she had met the day before. There was vulnerability and fear in his gaze now. And trust; the trust of a child looking to someone older for guidance.

Maternal instincts that she hadn't even known were activated kicked in full force in that moment. Before she realized what she was doing, she had Riku in a firm embrace, pressing his head to her shoulder.

"He's going to be fine, sweetie," she murmured into his hair. "Thanks to you, he'll be fine. Thank you _so_ much. I don't even want to think about what would have happened if you hadn't been there."

With hesitance that was almost heartbreaking, Riku slowly returned the embrace. She could feel the tremors moving through his frame and tension in his body. The poor thing was terrified!

Rinoa thought back to what Sora had told her about Riku the previous night and pieces began falling into place. Not even Sora knew the details of the illness that eventually took Riku's mother away from him, but she could imagine that ambulances and hospitals were not exactly places of comfort for him. His brothers and father should have known better than to leave him as he was, but then again…

Rinoa turned her head to look at the other Anakhuli males in the room. All of their faces were stoic masks. She could guess that all present were thinking back to darker days as well.

"Family of Sora Holani?" The nurse's voice broke the silence of the room and Riku quickly pulled away, discreetly wiping at his eyes.

Rinoa backed off and waved an acknowledgement.

"Sora's in room 716 down the hall," the young man told her. "He hasn't woken up yet, but he's resting comfortably. You can see him when you're ready, but only three guests at a time."

"Thank you," Rinoa said as the man nodded and exited the room. She turned back to look at the others, running a hand through her hair, suddenly nervous now that she was finally going to be able to see for herself what kind of damage had been done. Squall was by her side in an instant, his presence alone a welcome comfort.

"You two go ahead," Cloud said, with a small nod. "Riku has to talk to the detective, but we'll send him along after that's done."

Rinoa just smiled and nodded before exiting the room with Squall. She heard a moment of the woman Sephiroth addressed as Detective Maza speaking up, and then the door swung closed and all she could hear was the sounds of a functioning hospital; carts and wheels, metal jingling, the padding of soft soled shoes. Then, out of place amongst the sounds of professionals proving care came the distinct sound of raised voices, or rather, one raised voice in particular.

Once one had been present during a business transaction with the man, it became very easy to distinguish the sound of Clarence Bickson's angry voice. There was a sharpness to his articulation, a way that he spoke that said he thought that everyone who didn't see things as he did was clearly and idiot and not worth his time.

Rinoa shook her head in pity as she passed one of the doors a bit down from Sora's room. That was where the voice of Clarence Bickson was booming, and she could only assume that his son was in the room with him, recovering from injuries of his own.

"…again I have to clean up after one of your screw ups! You couldn't just stay gone! You just had to come back to what? Make sure I know how useless you are?! Embarrass me more by getting your ass kicked by that little fairy?! It's because you're one of them isn't it, you little shit!? You like it up the ass don't you, boy?! _I cannot believe_…"

The voice faded as they made their way further down the hall, but it was clear that many people could still hear what was happening. Heads shook and eyes were averted, comments made about the poor kid with the crazy dad down the hall. Rinoa blocked it all out as she found the room and braced herself for entry.

It was…not as bad as she had been expecting. From the talk of head injuries and staying for observation, Rinoa had created this image of Sora surrounded my monitoring equipment, beeping heart monitors and oxygen tanks. Clearly, she'd been watching too much television.

The room was painted in warm neutral tones unlike the majority of the hospital. The cream colored curtains were open to let in the light from outside providing softer illumination than the harsh fluorescents that would be used once the sun had set. Sora lay in his bed, wild hair flattened by a strip of white bandage wrapped around his head. His right arm was wrapped in a sling and held securely in place at his side, and there was dark bruising around both of his eyes. There was a single IV in his arm, and a device clipped to his finger that was connected to a display screen, but aside from that, he could have been sleeping. He looked ok; a little pale, a little haggard, but ok.

She stepped into the room, Squall just behind her and both stopped a little startled when Sora shifted and turned his head slightly away from the light. Bleary, unfocused blue eyes opened and Rinoa stepped forward lowering herself into the chair set up at the bedside, stroking the backs of her fingers against his cheek.

"Hey there, kiddo" she whispered with a smile, trying to help him focus. "I wasn't expecting you to be awake so soon."

"Aunt Rinoa?" Sora's voice was thick with confusion, low and breaking as he pulled himself from the mist in his head. "What's going on?"

"We'll tell you all about it when you're feeling a little better, alright?" Rinoa promised, smiling as he closed his eyes and shifted a little. Her expression shifted quickly to a frown when she noticed Sora wincing as he tried to move his arm. "Hey, don't do that, sweetie. You're hurt in a few places so don't try to move yet, ok?"

"Rin, what's going on?" Sora repeated, more insistently. "What happened?"

A spike of alarm pulsed from her heart at the agitation in Sora's voice. She was reaching out to offer more soothing words when she heard the door open behind her.

"Hello, Sora," Dr. Crescent's voice came from the entrance. "My name is Lucrecia." The tall woman stepped to the side of the bed and Rinoa stood to move out of her way. She noticed Squall sliding back into the room from the hallway and sent him a little smile. She hadn't even heard him leave the room. He must've gone to get the doctor.

"How are you feeling, Sora," Lucrecia asked next, checking Sora's eyes and taking notes on his chart.

"Really confused," Sora replied. There was a glazed quality to his gaze that Rinoa didn't like.

"Do you remember what happened?" Lucrecia was speaking in soft tones, probing for information as gently as she could. Sora shook his head in response, the motion weak and slightly uncoordinated.

"What is the last thing you remember?"

Sora closed his eyes and stopped moving completely. It seemed for a time like he had fallen asleep again.

"Sora?" Lucrecia called softly.

"I went to spend the night with Rinoa at her hotel," he said after another long moment. "We finished the Demonstration, and then I was going to practice with Cloud in the morning…"

"Do you remember anything from this morning, Sora?" the doctor asked. There was another long pause before Sora shook his head in the negative again. Lucrecia made a note on Sora's chart before, capping her pen and settling on the edge of the bed.

"I'll let your aunt explain everything to you, but I'm going to tell you about your injuries and what will happen from here. Is that ok?"

Sora nodded, just a small drop of his chin.

"Alright," she continued. "If you need me to stop at any time, just let me know. I know you're probably very sleepy right now. We gave you a mild sedative to help you rest more comfortably, so if you feel like you need to sleep, go ahead. I'll come back when you wake up."

Sora nodded, but Rinoa saw him shift into a more upright position. It was clear that he had no intention of falling back asleep if he could help it.

Dr. Crescent went on to explain where he had been hurt and what he had to do to allow the various injuries to heal. She got a few more details with the second telling. Apparently, eight stitches were needed to close the cut at the base of his hairline on the right side of his head. Short term memory loss was a normal occurrence and there was no way to be sure whether or not the memories would return.

Rinoa took careful mental notes of what she was hearing because she could tell that despite his best efforts, very little of the information was getting through to Sora. Still, it must have been a relief for him. She knew that Sora was not a fan of being out of control of the things going on around him, so she could only imagine how shaken he must have felt waking up in a hospital with no memory of how he had gotten there.

By the time Lucrecia was finishing her explanation, Sora was fading fast. He had been struggling to stay awake for most of the time the doctor had been speaking, but now he was losing the battle, eyes drooping slowly before he finally gave in and drifted off to sleep.

"I'll give you a hard copy of everything I just explained," Lucrecia said turning back to Rinoa. "When you take him home, just be aware that with head injuries it's not uncommon for there to be some fluctuations in his emotional state. If he seems moody or distracted, that's a normal part of the healing process."

"Thank you, doctor," Rinoa said, sighing and rubbing a hand across her forehead. "The information is greatly appreciated."

"Please, call me Lucrecia," the doctor responded. "You are free to stay with him through the evening if you would like. I'll be back to check in on him in the morning."

With that Lucrecia made her exit and Rinoa collapsed back into the seat next to the bed. She tensed for a moment when she felt hands on her shoulders but relaxed immediately as Squall began kneading the knots that were beginning to form.

"You holding up aright?" he asked her gently.

She breathed a shuddering sigh that shook her entire body. "No, not really actually." She answered honestly. "I'm just… I'm relieved that he's fine, but I can't just leave him like this. He needs someone to look after him, Squall. With that arm and his ankle…and you said that this is not the first time something like this has happened!?" She paused, trying to get her thoughts together.

"I have to quit," she said after a long moment of silence. "I haven't earned any vacation time yet at my job, I only have a week of emergency leave while I'm still on probation...God, even if I stay for this week, I don't have anywhere to stay… "

"Rin, calm down." Squall's soothing voice interrupted her rant. "You're stressed and tired. Just breathe for a bit. You have friends here which means you have options."

Before he could say anything else, there came a soft knock on the door.

"That's probably Riku?" Rinoa said, turning her head to see who was coming in. To her mild surprise, it was not Riku who poked his head into the room, but rather, Sora's other friend, Roxas. Rinoa's brows creased in confusion. "What happened to Riku," she asked the other boy. Roxas just shrugged, eyes moving past her to Sora.

"He was leaving when I got here. How's Sora doing?"

Rinoa shared a glance with Leon before turning her attention towards explaining things to Roxas. Inside however, her worries had just grown another branch. Why had Riku left so suddenly? He had not been fairing well when she'd left him and she somehow doubted that he was getting the kind of support he needed from his family at the moment.

She was of curse worried about Riku's wellbeing in the situation, but more than that, she was worried about how Riku's wellbeing would affect Sora. She had seen already how much Sora had come to depend on Riku's support. Now she couldn't help but fear what would happen if that support was suddenly taken away.

-:- -:- -:-

**A/N:**

Dude…Shortest chapter yet! But still…12 pages. Anyway. Like I said before, now that I'm back in school, expect shorter chapters and less frequent updates. Sucks…but honestly, we're so close to the end. I think it'll be ok.

Also, since it takes me so long to do these, I'm prolly just gonna self beta (which I really suck at) so please peeps, send me the errors and I shall fix them…eventually :D


	18. Ch 15: Recovery Room

Standard Disclaimer: If I draw them all enough, maybe one day they'll be mine…but I'm not holding my breath

**Standard Disclaimer:** Disclaimed

**Notes: **Boo to illness…I hate being sick…

**Warnings:** Gratuitous use of Disney and Square characters, language, at least one homosexual relationship, bigoted ass-holes, semi non-con encounters, made-up culture and language, lots of Blitzball, and general teen awkwardness. Enjoy!

-:-finem-:-

**Life on the Blitz**

**Chapter 1****5****: **

**Recovery Room**

The ride from his house to the hospital was one of the most emotionally charged experiences Roxas had had in a long time. It was on par with the storm that resulted in his parents' deaths all those years ago, and the tension in his body was coming very close to making him ill. Axel had precious few details to offer, reporting only that Riku had called him sounding shell shocked, rambling about Sora, hospitals, and blood. In light of past experiences with emergency rooms, Roxas' mind began immediately jumping to all of the worst conclusions, sending him into a state of frenzied panic.

Naminé was knocking at his door before he'd had a chance to put the phone down or explain to Hayner why he had gone, so suddenly, pale and still. She'd let herself in to get to him and snap some sense back into him. From there, things progressed as would be expected. Clothes were pulled on, guardians were informed and by the time Axel arrived fifteen minutes later, Roxas was waiting for him at the curb while Hayner, Naminé, and Ansem sat anxiously waiting in the family sedan with the engine running.

It was another twenty minutes before they arrived at the hospital. The ride with Axel had been mostly quiet with the exception of the redhead's occasional muttered reassurances.

"I'm sure everything's fine. Riku has a way of overreacting to stuff like this. Blows everything way out of proportion. You know how he is. Lighten up over there, Roxy. Sora probably just stubbed a toe while they were out on a date or something. Rikky's always been squeamish about blood. I'm sure it's nothing…"

The words might have been a bit more believable if it hadn't sounded like Axel was trying to convince himself as much as he was trying to calm Roxas. The sight of Sephiroth's personal vehicle as well as the three motorbikes Riku's brothers were known to travel by in the parking lot didn't help the situation. Riku was very particular about when he asked his father for help. It had to be something big if Riku's entire family had shown up at the hospital.

"Roxas, come on."

The blonde jumped slightly as his attention was brought back to the present. While he had been staring off at the place where the Anakhuli vehicles were parked, _his_ family had already parked and gotten out of the car. Axel was watching him expectantly from where he stood holding the passenger door open. Roxas could only sit there, wide-eyed, and watch him right back. He could feel his pulse pounding at his neck, feel the perspiration that was gathering above his lip. Whatever was wrong was bad, he knew it had to be very bad, and he knew that he was not ready to face the worst. He could tell that Naminé was worried about him, knew that Hayner and his uncle were probably wondering at the hold up, but all Roxas could manage was a very slight shake of his head as his eyes drifted back to the expensive vehicles parked at the front of the lot.

A moment later, his attention was forced back to the redhead in front of him again as Axel had reached out a hand and almost angrily grabbed onto the back of his neck. "Roxas, get your ass out of my car, _now. _ We don't have time for this shit."

The harsh words were offset by the fierce hug he was pulled into immediately afterwards. He sat limply in Axel's embrace, feeling the older boy's heart pound strongly against is forehead.

"No jumpin' the gun, Rox," came rumbling from somewhere above. "How about we find out how bad it is before we start freaking out, alright?"

Roxas nodded, pushing himself away from Axel and finally climbing out of the vehicle. Naminé reached out and took his hand as soon as he walked over to join the others. Hayner and Anselm both offered supportive pats to his shoulders, squeezing briefly before the group headed for the entrance to the hospital. As they moved, Roxas was aware of Axel's presence at his back, Hayner at his right, each sticking close to him but also acknowledging the presence of the other.

There was a part of Roxas that was irritated at the coddling, but the bigger part—the part that was convince he was about to be told that he had just lost one of his best friends—was glad to have the buffer of family and friends around him. Naminé squeezed his hand from his left as Ansem stepped forward to open the doors. He returned the squeeze, giving and taking comfort from it in equal parts as they all trouped in heading for the reception desk.

Before they could reach it however, there was a ping from an elevator followed by a wave of silver. Sephiroth himself glided stone-faced through the main waiting area, his four sons following in his wake. The three eldest surrounded their youngest brother as they moved, but Roxas caught sight of Riku's face. He had an expression that was as stony as the rest of his family's, but for a moment, their eyes met. Turquoise tracked the blond boy's features, read the question pounding through his blood, then quickly broke contact, looking to Axel for a moment before focusing forward once again.

Roxas was left again staring, but this time his mind was blessedly quiet. There were no guesses, no explanations, just a calm, single-minded blankness. He heard Axel's attempt to get Riku's attention, ("Riku! What the hell man?!"), was aware of his uncle's return from the information desk ("He's up on the seventh floor"). There was even a part of him that registered the small struggle Axel had with himself in trying to decide whether he should be following Riku or joining the rest of the group on their trek to the seventh floor.

Despite all of the questions and realizations that were waiting for him once the situation had sorted itself out, however, anything that didn't immediately result in Roxas fining out what had happened to Sora was mentally shoved aside as not important. He didn't wait for any prompting before he made his way to the recently vacated elevators. He barely waited for Ansem, Hayner, and Naminé to enter the small space before he pressed the 'close doors' button.

Distracted as he was trying to figure out why Riku was leaving the hospital, Axel was left outside the elevator as it made its departure. Roxas caught a flash of his bewildered green eyes; Axel's mouth opening to voice a protest, but it was too late. The doors shut, blocking out whatever the redhead was going to say and moments later they were rising.

Finding the private waiting room where Sora's visitors were gathered was a fairly simple thing. Cloud was in the hall, just outside the entrance talking to a woman that Roxas had never seen before. The woman's presence barely registered to the blond as he zeroed in on the swim coach.

"Where's Sora?" he asked, interrupting the conversation Cloud had been engaged in.

"Mr. Strife, is Sora alright?" this from Naminé who had spoken almost simultaneously with Roxas the moment they were in speaking distance of the older blond. Cloud looked up, face showing a bit of surprise that served to lighten the worry lines that had become etched in his brow. The softening lasted only a moment, his expression returning to a look of intense concentration once again as soon as he had processed the presence of the new arrivals.

"Sora's fine," he said shortly, "or at least as fine as he can be considering the situation. I'll let you get the details from Sora or Riku themselves once things calm down a little." Cloud continued, cutting Roxas off before he could launch into his next array of questions. "He's down the hall in room 716 if you want to see him, but Leon and Rinoa are in there right now so only one other person can be in the room.

Roxas turned to face the others he had come with just as the elevator chimed and a very irritated looking Axel stepped out. His green eyes glared daggers at Roxas the whole time he made his way down the hall to where the group was standing. He held their contact a moment longer than necessary, his displeasure clear, but a moment later he turned to address the group at large.

"Well?" he asked with a frustrated throw of his hands.

"Sora's down the hall," Roxas supplied immediately. "Cloud's not giving any details," he paused to send a small glare at the older male who was ignoring them, once again engaged in conversation with the dark-haired woman, "but he's apparently alright. We were just about to figure out which one of us is gonna go see him first."

"Duh, like that's a question." Hayner spoke up for the first time since they had arrived at the hospital. "I think we all know that out of all of us, you're closest to Sora, so get your ass down the hall already, douche bag."

Roxas made a quick round of glances for confirmation. Axel rolled his eyes skyward, shoving Roxas to get him moving, and that was how Roxas found himself wandering down the halls of an emergency room on his own. His mind was still reeling from everything that had happened. Calming was a process that was taking place in stages. His heart was still pounding, a combination of stress from the morning in general combined with his state of being in a hospital ensuring that it would continue beating erratically for a while yet. His thoughts were still rushing, but now, instead of the fear-panic frenzy they had been in before, his mind was full of speculation as to what could have happened to land Sora in the hospital.

If Cloud was there, it was possible that this had something to do with their Sunday morning practice sessions. Axel said that Riku had mentioned blood when he called. Maybe Sora had slipped and hit his head in the locker room, but that didn't explain Riku's sudden retreat or why Cloud was staying so tight lipped about what had happened exactly.

There was also relief, almost heady in the sudden lightness of the air as it fully registered that Sora was alright. He was alive and breathing and would be fine and Roxas would still see him every day at school, still see him at practice. Sora would still be at his house on weekends to get through Vexen's homework, and they would still bitch and complain and Roxas would still see how much crap he could get into Sora's hair before Sora noticed, and Sora would still scowl at him as Roxas snickered at the rain of paperclips, or popcorn, or pushpins, or licorice that fell from his head every time Sora moved.

Roxas had to stop for a moment, leaning against a wall as he was overwhelmed by the rush. He hadn't even realized how much he had been preparing himself for the worst. He laughed a little at himself, realizing that he really had been overreacting to the situation and stood to continue down the hall, head a little clearer.

As he walked, he picked up on the sound of a voice shouting from one of the rooms, some guy screaming obscenities at his son, from what Roxas could tell. He wondered idly what the kid had done to tick his dad off so much, flinching at some of the words used and shaking his head. He was _so_ glad that his uncle wasn't crazy like that.

A few more doors and around a corner found Roxas standing in front of the door to Sora's room. He could hear the quiet murmur of voices through the door and took a breath before knocking gently to announce his presence. He pushed the door open and stuck his head in to make sure he wasn't interrupting anything major. Both Leon and Sora's aunt Rinoa were there beside Sora's bed, watching as he entered, both shooting him looks of confusion.

"What happened to Riku?" Rinoa asked

Roxas shrugged, focus falling to where Sora lay sleeping as he answered distractedly. He didn't like what he was seeing. "He was leaving when I got here. How's Sora doing?"

He missed the shared glace between the adults in the room as he ventured further in, feeling distinctly out of place as he circled around to stand on the opposite side of the bed from the other two.

"He's going to be fine," Rinoa told him. "He just had a bit of a…run-in, with one of your teammates."

"_Bickson_ did this?" Roxas spat out, voice hardening as plans for pay-back already began forming in his mind.

"Yes, Travis Bickson attacked Sora while he was in the locker room after his workout with Cloud this morning," Leon supplied, "and if you're thinking about going after him, don't bother. Riku got there as it was happening. Trav is in a room down the hall."

Roxas nodded shortly, somewhat mollified but still pissed. If he had anything to say about it, Bickson would be receiving a second helping of whatever Riku had dished out already. He was pretty sure he knew a few others who would share that opinion.

"He's pretty well sedated, sweetie," Roxas blinked back into the conversation as he realized that he was being addressed. "He was awake a few minutes ago, but went back down almost immediately. He'll probably be asleep for a few more hours."

"That's ok," Roxas told her, "There are enough of us here to keep ourselves entertained until he wakes up." Rinoa looked surprised for a moment, then smiled a little sadly at the news.

"You wanna go back out with the others, then?" she asked. "As adorable as this one is, I'm sure you're not gonna want to sit here and watch him sleep until he decides to join us again."

Roxas gave a quirk of a smile looking down at where Sora lay, bruised and bandaged but still managing to look like he was sleeping peacefully, curled slightly in towards his injured shoulder. He reached out a hand, struck with the idea to connect physically to his injured friend in some way, but once the idea had struck, he realized that he wasn't really sure how to proceed. What was appropriate contact protocol for friends visiting non-mortally injured friends who were not aware of afore mentioned friend's presence?

Squeezing the hand? That was for people on their death-bed. Brushing hair from forehead? A little too affectionate and besides, both hair and forehead were thoroughly wrapped in gauze. Back of hand to cheek? _Way_ too affectionate; reserved for close family and significant others only. Poking finger to cheek? Not affectionate enough; reserved for sleeping siblings at home and the mysterious substance in the green bowl at the back of the fridge.

At a complete loss and feeling the pressure of Leon and Rinoa's confused gazes, Roxas settled on a couple of awkward pats to Sora's uninjured shoulder before dropping his hand and looking back up at the pair.

"Cool. I'll just go back to the waiting room."

"We'll let you know as soon as he wakes up again," Rinoa told him with a warm smile.

Roxas did his best to return the gesture, kicking himself slightly for making an ass of himself, but also glad that he had seen with his own eyes that Sora was indeed doing fine. With a final wave, he exited the room to go fill the others in on what he had learned.

-:- -:- -:-

_Water. There was the sound of water roaring in his ears. Water rushing. Water singing, slapping loudly, flatly against something hard. Splash, splash. Droplets on skin. The beach? When did he get to the beach? A flash of silver. Riku. Riku and the dance. (Fire, heat, the heady rush of contact, mouth to mouth skin to skin. "Waterfall?" "Waterfall.")_

_Water…but it was warm…(pressure, pressure, disgusting heat at his back; cold, hard at his front) and why was it tinged with copper? Why were there voices in the water? Water couldn't speak could it? Then why were there whispers? Murmurs? Words…_

"…matter? The doctor said that there were not signs of penetration, so really there's nothing to tell. If he doesn't remember anyway, what's the point of adding more stress to his plate? He's going the have enough to deal with as it is."

_...Words and sounds. He could hear, but there was no meaning…_

"And if he remembers something and finds out we knew and didn't tell him?"

"Then we explain why we didn't tell him, Squall. I don't know what else you want from me! I'm just trying to look out for him!"

_It was like moving towards a city through a dense layer of fog. Seeing light, knowing intellectually that it came from buildings, but not yet able to process where the buildings stood or how they looked exactly._

"I know you're trying to look out for him, Rinoa, but I don't think lying to him is going to help the situation."

_He was closer now…the structures gaining definition…_

"I'm not _lying_ to him! I'm just not going to worry him with irrelevant information.

_Arguing…two of the buildings were arguing?_

"But buildings can't talk." Sora hadn't known that he was going to speak when he did, but the words were there nonetheless, hanging in the air as he blinked confused eyes open to late afternoon light. "What?" All of the disjoint images and thoughts that had spawned them were fading quickly to the back of his mind where dreams lived. It only took seconds for him to have forgotten completely that he'd been listening to something even though he had not quite comprehended any of it.

The first thing that registered properly in his fuzzy brain was the familiar smile directed his way. Perfect teeth revealed only slightly behind thin, pink lips. A round face framed by dark hair. Coffee brown eyes…

"I made you miss your flight," he croaked.

Rinoa's expression turned to one of surprise for just a moment before she snorted a laugh and collapsed into chuckles at his bedside. "Sora!" She exclaimed reaching for a small paper cup on the table beside his bed and handing it to him. "What, did you think I'd just head back to Midgar with you in the hospital? What kind of family would that make me? Sheesh! I can't believe that's the first thing out of your mouth."

Sora stared in response, sipping on water from the cup as his body slowly began waking from his long nap and his brain began to more properly process information. He had no idea why that, of all things, was the point he chose to bring up at the moment. There were several more pressing issues he could think of, but since he'd brought the topic up…

"You have work tomorrow," he said, after taking a few sips of water to get some moisture in his throat. "And you're still in your trail period or whatever, right?"

"Yeah, kiddo," she replied, leaning towards him a little as she tilted her head to the side. "But believe it or not, there are some things more important than some dumb job."

Sora's face fell as he looked into his aunt's eyes. "When are you going to get around to telling me how I ended up here?" he asked, wincing a little as he tried to sit up a bit in bed. Some part of his mind had been making guesses about what had happened to him to land him in the hospital. The most obvious seemed like it would have been some kind of pool related accident. Maybe he had slipped and hit his head or something, but that didn't explain the other injuries, and Rinoa's presence made it obvious that it was nothing so simple as that.

"Sora," she began, hesitation clear in her voice.

"It was Bickson again."

Sora jumped, startled by the deep voice that had spoken. He'd been so focused on Rinoa that he hadn't even noticed Leon standing a bit away, closer to the door.

"_Squall!_" Rinoa hissed, shooting a look to the other male that could have stripped the paint from the walls. In a move that caused Sora to question his counselor's decision-making capabilities, Leon ignored the look and continued speaking.

"He attacked you this morning after you finished your workout with Cloud. That's why you're here."

Sora had no response. He heard, but the information was taking its time developing meaning in his head. He blinked once. Twice. Then turned his eyes to his visible injuries as the pieces began falling into place.

"Oh," he muttered frowning deeply at the brow. He was oddly emotionally non-responsive to the idea. It was disturbing, yes, and he was very confused by the thought that things had happened that he just couldn't remember, but…somehow it didn't feel like the events being discussed had anything to do with him. It was like listening to a story about someone else. He felt bad for this person—even a bit outraged on this other person's behalf—but it was didn't connect to him, really. It seemed like he should have been able to walk away from the matter and get on with his own life. And for the time being, he was fine with that. He really wasn't sure how he was supposed to respond to his situation so the detachment was actually rather nice.

"Sora. Hon," Rinoa said, speaking in careful tones. "You understand what happened right?"

Sora blinked again before smiling ruefully. "Yeah, of course," he said. "I still speak English, Rinoa. I was just…surprised I guess."

Rinoa eyed him for a moment longer before relenting. "Alright then, kiddo. I just wanted to be sure. There are some things I want to talk to you about, but they can wait for a little later." She continued "For now—"

"Hey, Rinoa?" Sora interrupted before she could get any further. "

"Yeah, babe?"

"I really need to use the restroom."

"Oh! Well…"

At this point, Sora had the pleasure of enduring awkward questions about catheters and bedpans from his loving aunt before finally, Leon took pity on him and pointed out the door beside his bed that led to an adjoining bathroom. Of course, next came the question of how he was supposed to get there…

"Y'know," he stated off-hand, "if you had any respect for my dignity as a male, Rinoa, you'd let Leon do this part instead." The line was delivered as he accepted the assistance of his aunt, first out of bed and then to the small room that was a bare four feet from where he had been lying.

"Well, you dignity as a male is just going to have to get over it," Rinoa told him, a bracing hand at his waist and good shoulder. "This is a job for family."

The first stirrings of frustration began at this point. While he had been on his back, he'd been sore, but otherwise felt mostly alright. A little fuzzy around the edges maybe, but more okay than not. Once he was standing however, things felt very…different. The weight of his body shifted and suddenly, he felt like one massive bruise. His head throbbed painfully, dark spots eating away at his vision for a moment, and when he put weight on his legs, it was all that he could do to keep them from folding under him completely. He kept going, thought, sure that after a little bit of time, his head would clear and he would be fine. It didn't happen. He limped slowly to the bathroom, avoiding Rinoa's concerned questions and keeping his eyes down cast to hide how much he was really struggling.

He was forced to sit down on the toilet, legs too rubbery to support him. Rinoa told him to call when he was done and then left the room, shutting the door behind her. He knew that she hadn't meant it to be—it was only logical that if he needed help in, he'd need help out—but for Sora, the comment was the death blow for his already bleeding and broken pride.

He flushed in shame at the tinkling sound of urine hitting water, an altogether different experience in his sitting position. When he was done, he just sat there. He couldn't bring himself to care that there were people waiting for him on the other side of the door. The tiny space of his bathroom had become a refuge and he wasn't ready to give it up yet, especially if it meant calling for help to do so.

"This is ridiculous," he muttered to himself, running his free hand over his face and hissing when it came in contact with the gauze-wrapped cut on his head. He giggled at that, the sound startling, as he had not intended to make it. There was part of his mind that didn't think that was an exactly normal response to pain. His attention had been caught now, however. He poked at the injury again, wincing at the suddent sting; touched it once more just to be sure, then found himself snorting another laugh.

"Un-fucking-believable."

It was hard to get his head around, really. He still felt like someone was telling a really bad joke and he was just waiting for the punch-line. Wasn't someone supposed to be shouting "just kidding!" right about now? But, no…the pain was proof. Clearly he'd gotten his ass kicked pretty well, and to add insult to injury, he couldn't even remember how he'd faired in this fight he'd apparently had with Bickson. Had he just been taken down like a wuss or did he at least get in a couple of good shots for himself? Maybe it had been a massive clash between the two of them and Bickson had a bed somewhere in the hospital too.

His thoughts were interrupted by a soft knock at the door.

"Sora, hon? You alright in there?" Rinoa's voice called quietly.

"I'm fine, Rinoa!" he called back, "can't a guy take a dump in peace anymore?!"

He received no response to that, and he would have smiled if there was any capacity for humor in him at the moment. Instead, he glared blankly at the door, willing his body to be better so that he could make his way out of the bathroom under his own strength. He didn't think that was an irrational request of himself.

After a couple more minutes of sitting, he shifted his weight and hefted himself up. The room spun dizzily and he put out his good arm to support himself against the wall. He took a couple of shaky steps to the sink, hissing a breath at the sharp pain radiating from his spine, the tender feel of his bruised stomach. Shifting his arm from the wall to the sink, he steadied himself as he took a long look at himself in the mirror. The sight that greeted him was not pretty. He studied every inch of his face; the dark circles under his eyes, the sickly pale tint to his skin, the evidence of bruising noticeable just at the edge of his bandage. He couldn't stand to look at it, turned his eyes away in disgust.

There was a part of him that wanted to be angry about what happened, a part of him that wanted to be sad, but overall he found that he just felt tired. He couldn't even identify what exactly it was he was tired of. He was just done and no matter how hard he tried, he just couldn't muster up the motivation needed to stay positive. Still, he already knew that if he left the room sporting the blank mug that faced him in the mirror, he would get no peace. Everyone would try to make it better somehow, and Sora just didn't feel like dealing with people trying to cheer him up when he didn't want cheering. He'd just have the head them off.

It had been a while since he'd needed this fallback. He had secretly hoped that he'd never need to practice it again, but the last thing he wanted was people worrying over him. He didn't want or need anyone's pity.

Locking eyes with his reflection, he called on long years of practice and hid his blankness behind a smile.

-:- -:- -:-

It was the longest day that Sora had had in a long time despite the fact that he had only been conscious for about seven hours of it. Once he'd come out of the bathroom, he'd been informed that there was a police detective there to talk to him. Through his conversation with Detective Elisa Maza of the DIPD he'd learned more details of his 'encounter' with Travis Bickson. Enough to conjure up flashes of pain and panic that he assumed were memories trying to resurface. The news that Riku had been the one to come to his rescue _yet again_ sparked something in him that he couldn't quite identify beyond its unpleasant aftertaste. The smile had become a bit harder to maintain after that.

Fortunately, after the detective had made her exit, leaving her business card behind in case Sora remembered any further details about the attack, there was a pleasant surprise waiting. Rinoa and Leon both stepped out and were immediately replaced by Roxas, Naminé, and—to Sora's mild shock—Hayner.

"You're speaking to me again?" he asked, amused despite himself. "Did I also forget about our emotional make-up scene or something?"

"Shut it, Holani," Hayner grumbled in response. "I'd have to be a pretty big asshole to stay mad at you over something stupid while you're practically lying in your deathbed."

That earned a genuine smile and a lessening of the tension that had been steadily growing in his chest. Once again, it seemed like at least one positive had come out of him being Bickson's personal punching bag.

The line of visitors didn't stop with the first three. Over the course of the last hour and a half that he was allowed to have guest, he was shocked to find that several others has come to check in on him. There was an almost overwhelming bastardization of warmth and humiliation as Cloud, Vincent, and Mr. Weis stopped in after Roxas and the others left. The feeling doubled when Rinoa returned with Kairi and Axel, of all people, around the time that his dinner was brought to him.

He could barely choke down a couple of bites of the questionable fair with the others standing around him hovering in case he needed help. The fact that it was even a possibility set his face to flaming and making it even worse was the sudden pressure of tears that he felt behind his eyes for what seemed to him no reason at all.

He fought the feeling back with a force of will that felt considerably less strong that it should have been, but managed nonetheless. Kairi and Axel both left eventually leaving Sora alone with Rinoa. He felt vaguely bad at the internal sigh of relief at their departure.

"You done with that?" Rinoa asked indicating his half eaten bowl of soup and untouched roll and fruit cup.

"Yeah," told her smiling sheepishly. "My stomach is still doing weird things. I don't think I could handle any more than I already ate."

"Well," she sighed, "at least you got something in you. You doing alright still? How's your head?"

"Still hurts," he admit, "but I don't know. I feel better than I did when I first woke up so I guess that's something."

"Something indeed. Hopefully that will mean that you'll be fine to go in the morning. Here." She handed him a cup of water and a small cup with a pair of white pills. "The doc said that this will help with the pain. I have a prescription to fill for you."

Sora swallowed the pills without complaint.

"There is something else I wanted to talk to you about before I get kicked out of here."

Sora blinked, confused as he looked up at the clock on the wall. It was almost seven in the evening, fifteen minutes before visiting hours ended, but he knew that there was at least one other visitor who would be coming to see him. Riku was pushing it though and Sora found that strange. Then again, Riku and his family weren't exactly the average islanders. It wasn't too far a stretch to think that visiting hours didn't apply to them. Sora was still not sure how he was going to react to Riku's presence, but he was expecting to see the other boy and figured that things would work themselves out in his head once Riku was in the room.

"You can't stay, Rin?" He asked opting to avoid the topic that was really occupying his thoughts.

"I wish I could, hon," she said with a sad smile. "But there's not really anywhere here for me and I've gotta go get things settled for you this evening anyway."

"Settled?" he asked, brows creased and head twitching to the side.

"That's what I wanted to talk to you about," Rinoa continued. "Squall and I were discussing a lot of different things while you were sleeping. The best way to make sure that you've got the assistance you'll need while you're hurt and things like that."

"Oh," Sora said, gut falling at the prospect of what that could mean. "Okay."

Rinoa took a breath and tucked her hair behind and ear. "So here's what we figured out. I'm guessing you don't know this, but Squall's father is actually Laguna Loire. He's president of one of Shinra's rival companies actually, but that's beside the point. The thing is, Squall is living in his father's vacation home here on the islands and apparently he has a ton of space to spare."

Sora blinked at her in more disbelief than confusion. "You want me to move in with my _guidance counselor_?" he asked, just to be sure he understood what his aunt was suggesting.

"Just for now," she assured. "Just until you heal a little, one or two weeks, maybe as long as until the end of the semester and then…" She began gnawing on her bottom lip and Sora already knew that what she was thinking about had to be big. It was difficult to get Rinoa to show signs of nervousness at all and Sora had learned early on to be worried when she did.

"Sora, hon. I just…I don't think things are going to work out with you living here on your own. I mean look at what's happened already this semester alone! And it's not even over yet. With the situation coming up with your mom, I was thinking that it would just…Maybe it would be best if we found a place for her closer to me and you both came to live in Midgar."

Shock was what Sora suspected that he should have felt, but it wasn't there. This was not entirely unexpected. There was a part of him that had been preparing for Rinoa to make that call ever since she'd told him about the insurance problem. Resignation was something else that seemed appropriate but was also conspicuous in its absence. The blankness had come back and he found that it was impossible to say _what_ he was feeling. All of his feeling just seemed to be…missing.

"I know that this is a lot to take right now, babe," she told him after a long pause. "But I wanted to give you as much time as possible to think about it and get used to the idea. We'll talk a bit more later in the week. I can stay until Saturday, but then I'll have to get back to Midgar if I don't want to find myself unemployed and in no position to help either of us!"

She was smiling at him expectantly, clearly hoping to win a smile of his own at the attempt at humor. Sora found that he was hard pressed to conjure one up.

"Sora…?"

"It's fine Rin," Sora heard himself say. He even felt his lips manage a small twitch of a rueful grin. "It's not like I didn't know that was coming anyway. I guess I just got a little blind-sided."

The concern in her eyes dropped away and she smiled at him again. "I'm sorry, babe. I know the timing sucks."

"But better now than later, right?" It was Rinoa's philosophy in life.

She sent him a mock glare and he put on the best innocent face he could manage. The sound of the clock ticking to the next minute drew both of their attention to the wall. Eight minutes to seven o'clock. Sora frowned in confusion.

Rinoa had set to bustling abut the room making sure that things were in easy reach of his bed, taking his pitcher of water to be refilled and other things that one did for someone in hospital. She chattered on about nothing at all, speaking primarily to fill the silence. Sora's eyes alternated between the clock and the door for the entire time.

"Well babe, that's it!" Rinoa said finally. I've gotta go, but I'll be back bright and early tomorrow to bring you over to Squall's."

"Cool," Sora said, not really paying much attention. He accepted the kiss to his cheek and the light squeeze. Waved with his good arm as his aunt left. Through it all his mind wondered at the oddity that was Riku's absence so far. He knew he'd heard the detective correctly. Riku was the one who had gotten Bickson away from him. Riku had come with him to the hospital. He knew that he was probably being cared for on Riku's father's insurance…so then where was Riku?

_Later_. He decided. _He'll be here later,_ and with that, settled down to stare at the television as his thoughts ran in circles around each other. He was anxious for his boyfriend to arrive. He needed someone who he didn't need to be okay for to talk to about everything that had happened. He was tired, he wanted to go back to sleep, but he didn't want to risk missing Riku's arrival.

Nurses entered to check on him regularly, his heart leaping each time the door opened. He was greeted with disappointment every time. Only after nine then ten o'clock had passed did he finally allow himself to accept the fact that Riku wasn't coming.

-:- -:- -:-

**A/N:**

Y'know, I almost wrote more, and then it occurred to me that this is really the best place to end this chapter. All kinds of other fun things will be happening after this and…the story just got another chapter longer.

As a side note for this chapter and the one before; for those of you who do not know, Detective Elisa Maza is a character from Disney's Gargoyles. If you haven't watched the series…well, what are you waiting for!? Find it! It's AMAZING!


	19. Ch 16: Memories

**Standard Disclaimer:** Disclaimed

**Dedications: **First off, this is going out to deviantArt's **IcyInuYoukai **who did some awesome drawings of Riku in fire dance regalia! The link shall be placed in mah profile and everyone should go see! XD

Secondly, this is for (also dA's) **Evil-Uke-Sora** who is hands down the best Sora cosplayer I have ever seen. I mean she practically LOOKS like him and everything! Anyway, she found me on dA and sent some really kind words that encouraged me to crank this chapter out. She was also recently in a car accident and is still recovering, so…I hope this can bring a little extra entertainment while your Riku is looking out for you :D

**Warnings:** Gratuitous use of Disney and Square characters, language, at least one homosexual relationship, bigoted ass-holes, semi non-con encounters, made-up culture and language, lots of Blitzball, and general teen awkwardness. Enjoy!

-:-finem-:-

**Life on the Blitz**

**Chapter 1****6****: **

**Memories**

"Well, I don't know about the rest of you, but that was enough fun for me today," Axel commented dryly, exiting the hospital and stepping into the late afternoon air. It was around six thirty meaning that the group had been at the hospital for the better part of six hours and it was clear on all faces that they were feeling every second of those hours.

"I'm just glad that he's alright," Kairi sighed, rubbing a hand over her face. "When I got Naminé's call this morning, I didn't know _what_ to think."

"How are you getting home, Kairi?" Naminé asked as they moved towards the vehicles they'd arrived in. "I know you took the bus here, but we could probably give you a ride if you need it."

"You're also welcome to join us for dinner," Ansem spoke up. "That goes for you boys as well," this directed to Hayner and Axel. "It's been a long day for all of us and—" Ansem paused suddenly, brows creasing as he looked in the direction of the hospital entrance.

"Uncle Ansem?" Naminé asked, following the direction her uncle was looking.

"What's wrong?" Roxas asked completing the thought.

"That's Thomas Bale," he said, eyes never leaving the young man who was exiting and walking towards a vehicle. "Good kid, but he works for The Patriot, and the man in charge of that paper has few if any scruples."

"So what?" Hayner asked, rolling his eyes and turning to continue for the car. "Maybe his grandma's sick or something."

"Oooor," Axel said, drawing the word out as if he were breaking an very complex idea down into simple terms for a small child, "maybe it means that someone leaked this shit out to the press." The redhead's brows creased as he too followed the figure of Thomas Bale who had mounted a yellow scooter now, and appeared to be reviewing notes in a small notebook. "That could be bad."

"You think that's why Riku and his family were in such a hurry to get out of here?" Roxas asked stepping over to stand beside Axel.

"I think it's probably a safe bet," the redhead responded.

"They were just trying to keep Sora out of a potential media circus," Kairi voiced her thoughts, eyes lighting with understanding. She had not been happy at all when she found out that Riku had ditched out on Sora, and had already been planning ways to let get the message across that her threat to the older boy's anatomy had not been an idle one. It looked like that would no longer be necessary.

"Either that or Sephiroth was trying to move them all to a location where he could better control the situation," Ansem added. "Either way, I'm going to keep an eye out for anything in the papers tomorrow. If I remember correctly, Radcliff, the Patriot's Editor in Chief, is in Clarence Bickson's pocket. They have both come through my resort for conferences in the past and have always rubbed me the wrong way. I don't know what kind of spin that man could put on this situation, but I don't like the looks of this."

The words hung in the air, dripping with foreboding, as the group watched the young journalist rev up his engine and exit the hospital parking lot.

"Y'know," Hayner spoke up breaking the tension of the moment, "I miss the days when the biggest drama anybody I knew had to deal with was figuring out how to cheat on a test without getting caught, or keep their parents from finding out about bad report cards…or worrying about someone taking their boxers during P.E., yeah, or…"

Roxas just watched, raising a bemused brow as Hayner moved to get into the car still muttering. He put a foot out to follow but was stopped short by a hand on his shoulder. Turning at his sister's touch, Roxas found himself face to face with a near mirror reflection of his eyes giving him a look that spoke volumes. The moment lasted a heartbeat before she turned him around and pushed him back towards Axel's truck.

"Follow us out, Axel! We'll figure out where we're going on the way!" she called over her brother's shoulder, then innocently strolled away. Roxas was left facing Axel, a deer-in-headlights gape frozen on his face. This would be…mildly awkward…yes…awkward indeed.

"Uh…okay?" Axel called back, smirking at Roxas. "So which one of you is older again?" he chuckled.

And just like that, the headlights were gone. "It's a five minute difference, Axel," Roxas replied, glaring at Axel as if he'd just said the stupidest thing in the history of man. "All that means is that my ass got smacked first." Axel didn't seem to think that there was anything between them that should be uncomfortable apparently, and that was enough for Roxas. He was glad to slip right back into the easy friendship they shared. It allowed him to relax enough to think, and that allowed him to fully appreciate what Axel's presence actually meant.

He tracked back the events of the day as he climbed into the truck and Axel started the engine. Riku had apparently called Axel for support or something like that, a fact that wasn't surprising considering that Axel was one of the only people who had gotten close enough to Riku to earn that kind of trust. It was everything after that that got Roxas to thinking.

Riku had called Axel, probably looking to have someone there to support him at the hospital. Axel, instead of going straight to find out what had happened, instead chose to call Roxas, and even come to pick him up, not realizing that his whole family would be making the trip to the hospital. And then, once they had arrived at the hospital and found Riku—the whole reason Axel was there to begin with—instead of following his friend, Axel had gone up to the waiting room to check in on Sora…no. That wasn't quite right. There was more to it than that.

Obviously, Axel wanted to know about Sora's wellbeing, but he could have gotten that from Riku without too much effort, probably. He'd gone to the hospital for Riku, yet stayed even after Riku left… Axel had been with him for the drive to the hospital, had seen how much he'd been overreacting and freaking out. Basically, it had come down to a choice: supporting Riku or supporting Roxas and…

…Axel had chosen Roxas.

"What's got your brain grindin'?" Axel asked, calling attention to the fact that Roxas had been staring off into space in silence for a while, thinking.

"Nothing much," Roxas replied, a small, timid smile pulling at his lips. "I was just thinking that maybe there're a few things that the two of us need to straighten out."

"Really?" Axel asked, turning a corner, following the sedan ahead of him, never taking his eyes off the road. "You were thinking that?"

"Yeah I was." The smile became more confident as he got accustomed to the idea.

"Anything I should be worried about?"

"Probably not."

"Alright then." The older teen finally gave in to a broad grin as he pulled them in to the parking lot of Betwixt and Between Buffet "Dude, I hate this place."

-:- -:- -:-

"So when we went to your apartment last night, Cid was there and I told him what happened so he grabbed the extra key to let me in and grab some of your stuff and we got to talking and I realized that you're really not going to need that place since you'll be staying with Squall until it's time for you to move home with me. I figure that we'll just pack up the rest of your stuff later this week and clean the place up. I don't know how you've been living in that mess, Sora, I always thought that you were such a clean kid, but I guess you are fifteen and it takes a while for it to sink into the heads of teenagers that picking up as you go will save you cleaning time in the end. You'll get it one day, in the mean time, I'll be happy to remind you once we are sharing a place again. I think you're really going to like the city. It'll take a little getting used to, I'm sure, but in the end there's just so much to do. You'll make new friends, and get to visit some of our national treasures and…"

Sora sat in the passenger's seat of his aunt's new rental, this time an electric blue Thundaga. He listened with half an ear as Rinoa ranted on, barely pausing for breath. Rinoa was in one of her "mission" modes, and Sora knew that once the wheels began turning in her head, it was best to stay clear until whatever project was underway got done. All he could do was sit and weather the storm until it wore itself out.

In truth, he was still finding it hard to care about much of anything. He hadn't slept very well the previous night, body aching and dreaming dreams that hurt and made no sense. Morning, for him had been just an extension to a dream that got weirder the longer it lasted. Rinoa had shown up bright and early at nine, breaking small parts of Sora's brain with her energy. Dr. Crescent had come in a few minutes later to give him a final once over and clear him to go. A change of clothes and wheelchair ride later and he was in an unfamiliar car, driving off towards his new life.

From Rinoa's reporting, he had learned that he was apparently relived of his responsibilities at Pearl as well. Apparently Rin had called and informed one of his three bosses that he no longer needed the job. Every piece of the life he had so carefully constructed for himself over the past months was being dismantled in efficient, decisive strokes, piece by piece. He wanted to be angry, wanted to be irritated, or frustrated, or outraged…but he wasn't. The fatigue from the previous day still ate away at some odd point behind his solar plexus and he found that he just didn't have the energy to care. All he had was some objective observant part of his brain noting how in less than twenty-four hours, his aunt had managed to tear apart something that had taken him over three months to create.

The house they arrive at (_the house where your guidance counselor lives_, a corner of Sora's mind reminded him) was smaller than imagined, but bigger than anticipated. The main body of it was separated into two parts, a long, angled two stories with what looked like it could be an attic level. There was a country feel to the wood shingling on the roof, accented by the wood planks that decorated the face if the building, displaying the support structure of the walls. At the apex of the two halfs of the main section, there was an addition to the structure that could only be described as a…watch tower? This section of the house was a full story taller than the rest of the building. It was cylindrical with a line of windows revealing an interior staircase leading up to the top. At the crown, there appeared to be a room, more window than wall, rounded at the top to make an observation deck that was decorated by three hundred sixty degrees of stained glass.

It was a beautiful house really, even with the obvious signs that it wasn't really being kept as well as it should have been. There was tropical foliage gone wild across what probably should have been a well-manicured lawn. There were cracks in the drive, chips in the house's yellow paint. Clearly, no one was there to make sure that the luxurious structure stayed in pristine condition, but somehow, that added to the appeal of the place. Made it seem like a home instead of just a very big hotel.

Sora took all of this in with limited interest, allowing his brain to switch over to 'observe and catalog' as he tried very hard not to think too much on what this move meant for him in the long run. He even found some amusement in Rinoa's grumbling about men and their idea of decor as he limped on his braced ankle beside his aunt into Leon's home.

Almost everything that Sora saw upon entering the house was covered in sheets. He wondered, in passing, if anyone actually lived in the house or if Leon had just been making things up in order to get Rinoa to agree with the situation.

"I know this part of the house looks like no one lives here," Rinoa spoke up, answering Sora's question without him needing to voice it. "That because no one does. It's a lot of space for one person and Squall's only claimed a couple of rooms near the back of the house."

This was made apparent as Rinoa led the way down a hall to a section of the house with large windows facing the water.

"I'm sure you can guess why he chose to set up camp here," Rinoa said looking out over the panoramic view of the ocean and other parts of the island off in the distance. "Aaaand…" she said with a dramatic flourish, moving towards a door at the front of a different hall to the left. She pushed the door open as she spoke. "We figured you'd appreciate a view in your room, too!"

Sora's eyes widened as he shuffled forward to get a better look. The room was BIG. Not huge, really, but easily the size of his apartment if not bigger. He spotted his computer set up on a desk that was facing one of the many windows in the room. Other things from his apartment were scattered through the room making it seem for all the world that the room was a place that he had already lived in. It brought to mind the apartment that would stand abandoned on the other side of town in a few days. The desk shift that he would no longer be working, and for the first time that day, Sora felt a stab of…something. He wasn't at the point yet where he was ready to identify it, but there was definitely something. Something that was shoved aside as Sora found himself held, quite suddenly, in a tight embrace.

"I thought for sure this would get something out of you, Sora," Rinoa said, and Sora was very certainly alarmed at the way her voice was shaking. "Isn't this at least a little awesome. Amazing on _some_ level?"

Sora blinked at her for a moment in confusion. "Yeah, Rin," he said quirking an awkward smile as he tried to figure out what his aunt was expecting him to say. "This place rocks."

There was a sigh of relief, another crushing hug, and this time a fair amount of pain since Rinoa wasn't being particularly careful of his injuries. "Ok…thank you." She spoke a small distance behind his head. "For a second there, I thought maybe you'd forgotten how to _speak_."

It was a light joke, but that's what clued him in to the problem. Sora realized that he hadn't said a word since they had left the hospital. Well wasn't that a kick in the pants? He hadn't even realized it, and the last thing he wanted or needed was to worry people with things he wasn't even aware he was doing.

"Sorry. Guess I'm still more out of it than I realized," he grunted in reply with the little air he could get through her hold. Thankfully, the sound of his voice served to snap Rinoa out of the moment. She let him go, eyes wide as she realized what she had been doing.

"Ohmygosh sorry!" she said, face breaking a moment later as she began to laugh at herself.

"Nice, Rin," Sora, said rolling his eyes and smiling as he made his way over to flop on the bed and get off of his ankle. "Maybe I should be worried about being left in your care. You sure you're qualified?"

"Shut it, kid, or when I'm through with you, you'll never set foot in a Blitzball tank again!"

Rinoa was rather pleased with her little joke, so Sora let her have it. Even as a chill made its way down his spine and he felt his stomach turn for reasons beyond his understanding, he smiled for her, gave her the moment. And when she told him to rest up and call her if he needed anything, he agreed, waiting for her to close the door behind her before lying back and concentrating on calming his racing heart.

-:- -:- -:-

7:26PM

…seven twenty-six the little screen in front of him read. If he'd gone to school, he would have been working on homework by now. He remember that there was supposed to be something due for fifth period. Art. The assignment had been something about the Demonstration. A drawing of the best moment of the entire event. The only thing that came to mind was Sora…

His father had told him that Sora had been scheduled to be released by ten that morning. His aunt had probably picked him up. He was probably sitting at home by now, having dinner? Resting? Sleeping? The need to call itched at Riku's fingers. His thumb moved over the send button, gliding, feeling the smoothness of the plastic.

7:27PM

"You're still thinking about him aren't you?" Riku's head snapped up as his brother addressed him from the doorway.

"Kadaj!" Riku responded, quickly flipping his phone shut. "I thought you were still packing."

"I was," Kadaj said slipping into the room with practiced ease. "I finished."

Riku eyed his older brother nervously, unsure of what to expect from Kadaj's sometimes volatile personality.

"I thought that we agreed that it would be best for all parties involved if you cut contact with the boy for the time being."

Riku swallowed over an inexplicably parched throat. "We did," he was quick to confirm, "I just…" he glared defensively, hating how unsure he became of his verbal footing every time Kadaj entered the equation. Of his three brothers, Kadaj had always been the most manipulative, and hardest to read. "I was just thinking."

"Thinking?" the other male mused, stepping forward so that he was standing directly in front of Riku. With a pair of fingers and sharp upwards push to the chin, Riku was looking up into a pair of eyes that were just a shade cooler than his own and far more calculating than he ever wanted to be. "Don't you now, baby brother? Thinking is the most dangerous pastime of all. Now come help me pack the car."

Riku hesitated a moment, glancing down at his phone. Kadaj rolled his eyes, removed the offending item from his brother's hand and placed it into the nightstand drawer before playfully shoving Riku off his bed and out the door.

7:30PM

-:- -:- -:-

The epiphany struck some time around when the soap-bubble fight began. The first hint had come earlier in the afternoon when Sora and Rinoa had been sitting in the kitchen, munching on fruit. Sora had woken from an impromptu nap, some time around four P.M., starving since he hadn't eaten very much for all day. That's where the fruit came in. Light enough to not upset his still touchy stomach, but substantial enough to be filling. That's also where Cloud came in, surprising both aunt and nephew when he walked through the kitchen door.

"What are you doing here?" Rinoa had asked.

"What do you mean, what am I doing here? I live here," was Cloud's response.

Not long after that, Leon had strolled in, non-pulsed as ever as he explained that no, Cloud didn't actually live there; he rented the guesthouse out back. Yes, he did have a key to the house to make use of anything he might need that wasn't in his house. And, no, that didn't mean that the two of them were living together. It meant that they just happened to be friends who lived in close proximity to one another and saw each other on a frequent to regular basis. This directed to Rinoa after a pointed question that seemed, to Sora's ears, to be full of subtext.

The scene that followed was one that left Sora blinking in confusion as the three adults set to simultaneously arguing with each other, exchanging information on Sora's wellbeing, and agreeing on what they would be making for dinner, simultaneously. It was pretty impressive, honestly. Rinoa discussed Leon's trust issues as eggs were scrambled; Cloud talked about Sora's two days of excused absences while batter was mixed; Leon explained Rinoa's paranoia to the tune of sizzling bacon. By the time they got to the point of actually eating, Sora was very sure that Leon and Rinoa were actually an old married couple…who were both concurrently courting Cloud into the relationship, or something. Either that, or his concussed brain was making decisions for him that would end the stress of trying to figure out what the heck was going on!

After dinner had been eaten, plates had been collected and somehow, all three adults in the room decided that Sora needed to go rest while they cleaned. Sora decided that Sora was tired of lying around all the time, and opted to sit at the breakfast nook and continue observing the behavior of these strange creatures he was now living with. That's when Cloud oh so casually scooped a handful of dish bubbles down the back of Leon's shirt, and that's also when Sora figured it out.

His life had become one of those family sitcoms that showed in blocks on Friday nights. The formula was all there. Take one struggling teen(Sora), add a young-adult parental-type(Rinoa), plus the romantic interest(Leon) and the twist to keep things from being too typical(Cloud), and you've got everything you need for highly entertaining primetime television. It all made sense. The amnesia thing was one of the biggest cliché's out there, and honestly, who actually had dish suds fights?

The revelation was enough to get Sora on his feet again, limping back down the hall to consider the situation more and try to figure out what further ramifications his status as a sitcom character could have on his life.

He didn't bother turning on the lights as he entered his room, the full moon outside providing more than enough illumination as it flowed through the open curtains. The view at night was as beautiful as the view in the day time, the ocean rolling off into the darkness as moonlight danced across its surface. From what Sora could tell in the light of day, Leon's place was situated closer to the windward side of the island…closer to the restoration site. That meant that the foliage was lusher, the greens greener, and generally, the setting most ideal for an island get away. What would his friends say if they saw where he was living now?

The first thought that came to mind was the fact that Riku would probably not be very impresses since he lived in a house that had a similar view, as did many of the wealthier families on the island. Of course, that brought him down a path of thought he had been trying his best to avoid throughout the day.

Riku...

Why the heck had he left the hospital before seeing that Sora was okay? Why hadn't he called? It didn't make any sense. The easiest way to get answers was pretty obvious. There was a phone in the room that Sora was staying in. Leon already said that he could use it as much as he needed as long as he gave notice before making any long-distance calls. Sora knew Riku's number by heart, and a quick glance at the clock on his nightstand informed Sora that it was just after seven in the evening. Perfect time for calling.

It was really a very simple thing. That was why Sora found himself sitting on his new bed, phone in hand, dialing the number to R—oxas' house.

"Hello, Weis-Capiz residence," Naminé answered in her sweet voice.

"Hey, Naminé." Sora felt oddly uncomfortable speaking with his friend over the phone. His brain kept reminding him that the last time they had spoken—what seemed like weeks before but had actually only been the previous day—he had been in a fairly pathetic state. Even knowing that no one would ever think less of him for something that really had been completely out of his control, he couldn't help the feelings of shame that had settled in his gut. He just did his best the plow through and ignore them until they hopefully went away.

"Sora!" Naminé sounded very excited to be hearing from him. Somehow that only served to make him feel even more embarrassed. "How are you feeling? Everything checked out okay at the hospital, right?"

"Yeah," he confirmed. "I've been given a clean bill of health and instructions to 'take it easy' for the next couple of days. My head has no problem with those instructions, but the rest of me is already starting to get really bored."

"But at least you got to go home, right? That's gotta be better than that hospital room with all that monitoring equipment everywhere."

"Right…home." He spent a few minutes giving Naminé a quick version of the changes that had taken place in his life that day. She was appropriately impressed and surprised as the details had come, but as much as Sora liked Naminé, she wasn't the one he'd been hoping to speak with.

"So uh…" he began awkwardly, trying to figure out the best way to end the conversation without being rude.

"It's alright, Sora," Naminé said, solving the moment for him, "I figured that you hadn't called to talk to me. I just wanted to hear how you were doing. Roxas has been glaring at me for the past minute." Sora could hear the grin in her voice and couldn't help the one that pulled at his lips in response. "Just one last thing." The grin snapped back down with the sudden change of tone from playful to serious. "Rox has some news, and I'm gonna let him tell you. I just want you to promise me that you won't stress yourself out over this, okay? It may seem like a bad situation, but stuff like this always blows over and fixes itself, alright Sora? So promise."

"Promise what?" Sora asked, completely confused by what he'd just heard.

"Promise that you won't stress yourself out over this."

"Uh…" Considering that Sora didn't even know what 'this' was, he wasn't sure how well he could keep his promise but, "can I promise to…try?" he hedged. There was a sigh from the other end of the line.

"I guess that the best I can ask for since you don't even know what I'm talking about yet, huh?" she answered. "I guess that'll have to be good enough. Here's Roxas."

Sora heard a few muffled sounds from the phone that sounded rather irritated before Roxas' voice finally spoke into the receiver.

"I swear. I'm getting a job so that Uncle Ansem will actually let me get a cell phone," he grumbled. "Sharing the house line is seriously lame."

Sora chuckled at the thought. "Never would have taken Naminé as a phone hog."

"You don't live with her," came the expected sibling response. "Glad to hear that you're back among the living, Sor. You had us all worried for a while there."

That little bundle of shame that had taken up residence in Sora gut gave a flourish and a bow, instantly twisting Sora's innards in knots.

"Yeah, well…" he mumbled, wincing as his shoulder gave a small stab of pain. It reminded him that he was due for another dose of painkillers, which would likely knock him out for the night. "I'm glad to be back on my feet myself. What the heck was Naminé talking about, anyway?" he asked, changing the subject as quickly as possible. Naminé's warning had been pretty ominous to his ears, and that had sent a rabble of butterflies to swarming around with the shame in his gut.

The joint sensations were rather unpleasant.

"Uhh…right." The hesitation from Roxas wasn't helping the situation. "Was kinda hoping to get through some of the lighter stuff before just diving into the deep end. You won't believe the homework that Vexen assigned today, and oh MAN, in practice Hayner totally tried to—"

"Rox! Just tell me already!" As much as Sora wanted to avoid bad news, he found that putting it off never really did anything to soften the blow. He heard Roxas sigh into the line. There was a short pause and then:

"Yesterday when we were leaving the hospital, my uncle saw this guy," Roxas began. "Apparently he works for this newspaper, and I guess Bickson's dad is friends with the guy who runs it."

"Okay…" Sora prompted, seeing where this was going and already not liking it.

"So today, Uncle Ansem grabbed a copy of the paper. It's a total rag; all heart-stealing monsters and magic keys…but the cover story was kind of about…Riku. It's basically saying that the Bickson's are accusing Riku of Assault and Battery. It says that Riku attacked Bickson for no reason other than jealousy or something. They're trying to get him thrown in juvi for it."

Sora blinked, staring at the wall across the room in complete confusion. "But that makes no sense!" he said once his voice reengaged. "He attacked Bickson because Bickson was a-attacking _me_." The words were harder than expected to get out. "I mean, it wasn't really self-defense, but it was defense! How do they think they even have a case?!"

"Well…" Sora really didn't like how much Roxas was hesitating in this conversation. "The thing is, no one was really there to see what happened. The article says that Bickson was trying to help an injured student when Riku attacked him. And the thing is, Riku's brothers have done stuff like that before and gotten away with it because of their father's influence, so…it's pretty believable. Since no one else was there to say otherwise, it's kinda Riku's word against Bickson's."

Sora was quiet for a long moment as he let the information sink in. Unlike the story about what had happened to him at Bickson's hand, this one was taking root in his mind, burrowing deep into his heart as the implications blossomed.

"So basically," he began at length. "Since I can't remember what happened, Bickson can say whatever he wants, and there's no way to prove that his story isn't the truth."

"Come on, Sora!" Roxas was quick to protest, "you know that there is absolutely nothing behind anything he says! With all the crap he's pulled with you this semester, anyone would know he was lying! And besides, the doc said that you'd get your memories back right? After a few days?"

"She said _might,_ Roxas. Before leaving today, Dr. Crescent told me that it was possible I wouldn't get the lost time back since short-term memories are temporary or something."

"Yeah, but still," Roxas began, and Sora waited to hear what argument his friend had to offer, hoping despite himself that Roxas would actually have some kind of wisdom to offer. What he got was a bit more of that hesitation and then, "Riku's dad would never let anything like this fly."

That was true. Riku's father did have enough influence on the island to protect Riku…but as far as Sora was aware, the same was true for Bickson. His dad was supposed to be some big shot and there was always the possibility that they would get lucky. If nothing else, Riku would be dragged through some stupid court battle when all of it could be solved with a simple memory on Sora's part.

"Sora?" Roxas sounded anxious now. "You know he probably only did it because he was trying to beat you to pressing charges. Now, when your stuff comes out, they're probably hoping that it'll just look like you're trying to defend Riku."

"Does the article mention me by name?" Sora wondered aloud.

"No…" There was the sound of paper rusting in the background, and Sora imagined Roxas reviewing the story quickly just to be sure. "No, it just says a fellow student."

"But it's only a matter of time before that comes out, right?" Sora murmured more to himself than anything. "But this is stupid. No one's gonna make a huge deal out of some feud between a bunch of high school kids. It shouldn't really be a big deal."

"Yeah, yeah," Roxas was quick to agree. "It'll all blow over. Don't even worry about it."

"But I wasn't going to take this to court. I mean, I don't even remember what happened, so how could I? This is _so_ stupid!" He let his end of the line go quiet, just taking a moment to think. His head was beginning to throb with ever beat of his quickened pulse. His back was aching in one spot on his lower spine that he'd never gotten and explanation for. All of his pains were waking, and it was making it difficult for him to concentrate.

"Hey," Sora jumped slightly at Roxas' voice over the phone. He'd momentarily forgotten that anyone else existed in the world. "You promised Naminé that you wouldn't freak out over this, right?"

"I said I'd try," Sora replied, aiming for light, but falling flat.

"Then you'd better seriously try, asshole. I don't like it when people lie to my sister. Which reminds me, I was talking to Pence today and—"

"Hey, Rox. I'm not feeling so hot, so I'm gonna go, ok?" Sora appreciated the attempt to lighten the mood, but he really wasn't feeling up to it. He was tired, and just wanted some time to process the information that he had just received. He definitely didn't feel like letting someone distract him."

"Cool, Sora," Roxas allowed, sighing in defeat. "I'll talk to you later."

"Yeah, later."

"He wasn't in school today, y'know," Roxas said just before Sora lowered the phone from his ear. "Riku, I mean."

Sora paused a moment, accepting the information, then with a quite "thanks" pressed the button to hang up the phone. That last comment left him with a decision to make. The phone was still in hand. It was clear that some things had gone down with Riku that were complicating his life. Sora could only guess that was why he hadn't heard from his boyfriend despite the drama from the previous day.

What he couldn't figure out was what that meant. Did Riku not _want_ to hear from Sora? Was this about avoidance? Had he just not gotten the chance to call while Sora was still in the hospital? It struck suddenly that Riku wouldn't know that Sora was staying at Leon's house. Maybe Riku had tried calling Sora at his apartment number and couldn't get through!

That idea was what got Sora's fingers moving over the numbers on the phone at last, dialing in Riku's cell phone number. It was just after seven thirty, a time that Sora knew was fairly open for Riku. He should be available…

…but he wasn't. The phone rang, but the only answer Sora received was from Riku's voice mail.

"Leave a message," Voicemail-Riku intoned, and Sora couldn't help but smile. It seemed like ages since he'd seen Riku. To his mind, it had been almost two full days, and there was a fair amount of surprise associated with the feeling of loss that accompanied that realization. He could understand missing someone, and clearly, Sora was no stranger to loss, but this feeling was something different. It was…not deeper, but somehow—in that moment at least—more painful. It carried more hurt than anything he had experienced before, and there was a part of Sora that was very shaken with that understanding.

He rattled off a short message telling Riku where he was and hoping that the caller ID had the number because Sora had no clue what the house phone number was. Next he called his voicmail box to see if there were any messages for him, only to find that his phone line and mailbox had both…already been canceled…hurricane Rinoa strikes again. With nothing else to do, Sora was left with thoughts from his conversation with Roxas and another decision he would have to make.

Despite his promise to Naminé, despite what Roxas had said, Sora couldn't _not_ worry about the thing that was apparently happening with Bickson and Riku. He snorted a chuckle, lip curling in derision as he shook his head. Even with the impending trouble, Sora was still distancing himself from the situation. 'The thing happening with Bickson and Riku'? Sora was at the heart of the entire matter, yet somehow, he had managed to remove himself from the equation in his own mind.

"If I can just remember…" he growled, laying back on the bed, this time hissing. He really did need to take another dose of painkillers. But the painkillers always made him feel groggy. How was he supposed to try to pull up memories if he couldn't even think straight to begin with? He groaned in discomfort from the dull ache that was now radiating from his shoulder. He wanted nothing more than to go find Rinoa and ask her what had happened to his prescription, but he also wanted to at least see if he could think any better without the drugs in his system.

He found that if he lay very still on the bed, the pain wasn't nearly as noticeable. It reminded him of waking in the hospital, and whether that was a positive or a negative was left undecided. The room was dark, the bed soft and warm. Before Sora realized it, he felt himself dozing even as he pressed his mind to remember things that he just couldn't remember. He thought that he heard Rinoa's voice somewhere in the house. He could hear Leon and Cloud too…there was something about that…something pulling at the back of his mind…something he overheard…

"Sora?" The light was blinding when it came on, leaving Sora attempting a combination of blinking owlishly at his ceiling and wincing away from the brightness for a long, confused moment. "What were you doing lying in the dark like that, babe?"

Sora turned his head to look at Rinoa who was standing in his doorway. The motion was enough to remind him how much it sucked to have a concussion and he hissed slowly between his teeth as the pain settled comfortably across the top of his head.

"Avoiding the light," Sora informed her, and he was relived when the overhead lights went out and Rinoa instead lit a small, thankfully dimmer, lamp at his bedside.

"Yeah, you forgot to take your pain meds after dinner, genius." It was a gentle scold, but one that was irritating all the same. He didn't forget his medicine, and he didn't need her to remind him to take it. Or maybe she had forgotten that he'd managed fine on his own for a quarter of a year before, and technically longer than that since she had never really had very much time to focus on Sora and his wellbeing even when they were living together.

Sora chose not to voice his thoughts, happy to avoid a conflict over something that even he realized was just him being moody. Instead, he groaned and rolled himself into a sitting position so that he could accept the pills and water that his aunt had brought for him.

"Other than the aches, how are you feeling?" she asked taking the empty cup back.

"Better than I did yesterday, so I guess that's something," Sora told her. "I think I'm just ready to shower and go to bed early. I'm still really tired."

"Well, that's good. You need to sleep so that your body can repair itself. Do you need help getting your braces off?"

In answer, Sora used his left hand to catch the strap of his shoulder brace and pull it over his head. "I think I'm good," he told her, and she smiled stepping back in preparation to leave the room.

"Alright. Just remember to wear the shower-cap so that you don't get your head bandages wet. I'll help you change them and wash your hair tomorrow if you want."

"Thanks, Rin," Sora called as she left the room, and he was left again to listen to the sounds of other people moving about the house. That was one of the things he missed most when he lived alone. Even if he wasn't doing anything with other people, it was always nice to know that they were around; hear them walking about, clanking in the kitchen, talking on the phone. He found himself getting used to the idea of not being on his own even if it did mean losing a lot of the things he'd gained. He wasn't, however, fully ready to start thinking about what life would be like away from the islands. He wasn't ready to accept the loss of all of his friends, the separation from his history and heritage, the loss of his connection to the land of his ancestors…and he especially did not want to consider the death of what was just beginning to grow between himself and Riku.

It was easier to pretend that none of that was happening and focus on what he could do to help Riku in the mess that had brewed while Sora was still sleeping. He _had_ to get his memories back. There was no sure way to do it, but it had to happen. There was some hope in the situation. The time Sora had spent lying in the dark had not been completely fruitless. There was a conversation that he heard…he couldn't remember when it was or what it was about, but he understood one thing very clearly: Rinoa was keeping something from him. She and Leon had been talking about it. He couldn't remember much beyond the fact that Leon thought she should tell him something, and Rinoa didn't want to. It was a start, though, and if he could remember that much, then maybe there was hope for remembering more.

The medicine was kicking in quickly and the aches he'd been feeling were steadily fading along with his concentration. He was ready for bed. It wasn't even eight o'clock yet, but he felt like he could sleep for a week. First, however, he needed to get clean. The need to wash off the grimy feeling left on his skin after a day in the hospital was suddenly an extremely high priority.

It was a relief to find that the initial weakness he'd felt upon waking the previous day was due mainly to the drugs that were in his system to keep him sedated. Once that had worked its way out of his blood stream, most of his strength had returned. There was still the hobbling on his bad ankle, and the balance issue that came with having one arm binded to his side, but all things considered, Sora figured that he was doing a fairly good job at getting himself around.

That was very useful since his bathroom was a couple of doors down the hall. He only used the wall once to steady himself as he made his way to the shower, listening to the laughter of his guardians in another room. Once arriving at his destination, he faced the next challenge: getting out of his clothes one handed. There was a bit of a struggle getting the brace off of his right ankle with his left hand alone, but he did manage it. After that, he successfully navigated the rest of his clothing with little difficulty and had the water warming in almost as little time as it would have taken him uninjured.

Of course, making his way to the shower, he had to come face to face with a mirror, which revealed all of his damage in all of its glory. The bruising around his shoulder was the worst to look at. The skin in that area had turned colors he wasn't even aware the human body was capable of producing. His abdomen was only mildly discolored in comparison, but the swelling at his ankle was definitely nothing to ignore. That injury was relatively minor, but it still looked pretty bad. At least the bruising on his face was improving.

With a sigh and a shrug he took another step forward, securing his shower-cap before stepping into the stream of water. It was warm, felt nice…so why did he suddenly feel chilled as the spray contacted his skin? He halted for just a moment, but shook off the feeling and reached for the soap. His head was getting foggier by the moment and the only thing he cared about, really, was getting into bed as soon as possible. There was just the negotiation of a one handed shower he still needed to figure out.

Sora did his best to hold his right shoulder still and not jostle it too much as he lathered up, but it was all but useless. One wrong shift sent him gasping, face moving into the fall of water unexpectedly, and then…he felt pressure. Someone was twisting his arm, pressing him against the cold tiles in front of him…and he was stepping into a shower, contemplating something he couldn't quite grasp, and there was pain in his head, and the pain in his shoulder, and a coppery tint to the water…a hand wrapping around sensitive flesh, a sharp twist and his shoulder protesting loudly…twitching hips…release…a tell tale hardness pressing into him from behind…panic…shame…

_It's about time I put your queer ass to good use…_

Sora found himself gasping for breath and coughing around inhaled water, leaning against the shower wall for balance. His head was spinning, stomach churning, and his heart was beating an erratic rhythm in his chest. There was enough of his brain left to understand that he'd just had a flash of memory, but beyond that he couldn't make any sense out of it. There were…feelings, tingling like static in his blood. Scrambled signals, lost meanings, pieces that were just drifting...waiting. Waiting for him to pull them together. What did it mean? And why was it that Rinoa seemed to be tangled in the mess along with everything else?

Sora finished his shower, though it didn't last as long as planned. He was still too shaken to really enjoy it, but at the same time, he very keenly felt the need to be clean even more so than before. It wasn't until he was dried and wrapped in layers of blanket on his new bed that he allowed his mind to work at piecing together the fragments of memory that had been jostled from his psyche.

He knew that things had happened in the showers at school, so it really shouldn't have been so surprising that stepping into a shower would call something back, but what exactly had he gotten back? The pain he understood—how could he not, when he would be dealing with it daily for a while yet?—but the other parts…

His stomach twisted as the memory of panic and the remembered certainty that something was going to happen, something that would probably change him forever… And then…then it didn't make sense. There was that other piece…warm water and hard flesh, and…tension building and coming to an end that was not satisfying in any way…and Rinoa…Rinoa knew something, and Leon too. He could remember now, at least some parts of the half registered conversation the two had been having in his room at the hospital. Leon had wanted Rinoa to tell Sora something…but she didn't want to worry him with something that he couldn't remember. Why would she do that? What could be so bad that…unless…

There was a long moment during which Sora's brain ceased all other functions beyond pulling the broken pieces of memory he had collected into a twisted, ugly whole. He did not breathe. His heart stilled in his chest, and when the picture was complete, he felt as if its jagged edges were scraping his insides raw.

Something else had happened. It was obvious. Bickson must have done more than just rough him up this time. Sora could still remember that night back at Tidus' party when he'd been cornered by Bickson upstairs. Part of the whole reason he'd started working out with Cloud was to try to get a little stronger so that shit like that would never happen again. Clearly it had all been a waste of time. Clearly, Bickson had cornered him again and Riku had, of course, again come to the rescue. But this time, maybe…Riku was too late. Maybe he walked in and saw. Maybe…maybe that was the real reason that Riku had not come to see Sora at the hospital.

Sora didn't even register the point when tears had found their way to his eyes and began traveling down his cheeks. That wasn't surprising. The doctor said that he would be more prone to emotional outbursts while he was recovering from the concussion, and, considering the situation, the response was probably appropriate. The detachment was back but clearly this time, the true emotions were much closer to the surface. He could feel all the his physical reactions—the quickened pulse, the labored breaths, the trembling muscles—but he honestly didn't know how to respond to the realization that he had very likely been sexually assaulted the day before.

He found himself leaning over to lay on his good side while pulling his bad shoulder closer to his center, curling into as tight of a ball as his injuries would allow. He wondered how far things had gone. He'd had trouble walking due to pain in his spine…but he felt like he would have know if…if it had gone _that_ far. Besides, there were plenty of other options that could have happened in that scenario. And apparently everyone knew this had happened. Not Roxas or Naminé or any of his other friends(hopefully) but Rinoa and Leon, most likely Cloud…and Riku.

This was the kind of thing that would tear Bickson's story to shreds. All it would take would be Sora going to court and admitting to a room full of strangers that…

The thought ended there. Too much was trying to process and communicate at once, and Sora just wanted—_needed_—sleep. His body demanded it and he was powerless to resist. The patched together memory faded to nothing and Sora closed his eyes and allowed himself to escape into slumber's comforting embrace.

**A/N:**

I MADE IT…I hope…

This was supposed to be finished a week ago, and then came the DIGITAL PAINTING THAT ATE MY SOOOOOOUUUL!!! It was like a full time job, no joke. So, the plan was to get this out before I go home for Thanksgiving. And even though it is Thanksgiving Day, technically…I haven't gone home yet…so there.

Anyway, I'm hoping that everything that just happened in Sora's head made sense to everyone. Please keep in mind that he is a) concussed, b) drugged, and c) emotionally distressed/exhausted. Not to mention the part where, hey, right, he's a 15 year old boy. Things get mixed up some times, especially when you're hurt, and of course…this was another event that needed to happen, so…yeah.

Other things of note: Thomas Bale…right. Thomas and Radcliff are from Disney's Pocahontas, and here's something I hadn't known before this chapter: Thomas was voiced by Christian Bale. Dude.

…guess I should start working on the next chapter. See you around Christmas. Happy Thanksgiving to those of you who celebrate!


	20. Ch 17: When Illusion Meets Reality

**Standard Disclaimer:** Disclaimed

**Notes: **Holy snaps gang! This chapter is almost 12K words. Hope that makes up for the delay…?

**Warnings:** Gratuitous use of Disney and Square characters, language, at least one homosexual relationship, bigoted ass-holes, semi non-con encounters, made-up culture and language, lots of Blitzball, and general teen awkwardness. Enjoy!

-:-finem-:-

**Life on the Blitz**

**Chapter 1****7****: **

**When Illusion Meets Reality**

Riku sighed, studying the shops of the city as they passed by. He was in the front passenger seat of the family sedan, his father driving, focusing forward on the road. They had just taken Kadaj to the airport. He'd spent enough time away from the main offices already and needed to get back, his vacation over. The car was silent except for the occasional sniffle from Loz, Yazoo hushing their oldest brother quietly in the back seat. It was oddly, not an unusual scenario. Loz always had taken goodbyes the hardest.

With another sigh, Riku allowed his eyes to fall shut, hoping to ease the mild headache that was developing behind his eyes. He had to wonder about his family at times. From the outside looking in, they probably seemed like the any of the others in the world seen as being elite; too much money and no thought or care about how they spent it. All smiles while the cameras were rolling; no regard for the rules when they thought no one was looking. Happy to flaunt their family's influence and egregiously large bank account by walking away from any number of offences with barely a smack on the wrist.

It was the lifestyle that they were expected to live. The island community looked on with awe and envy, acknowledging their blood-tie to the island people, but never bothering to look beyond the surface of what Sephiroth's PR people were paid so well to project. No one would guess that Kadaj's cold exterior and malicious temperament was a mask that hid how much he had been affected by his mother's loss. No one knew that quiet Yazoo, who seemed to follow his bothers' lead in most things, was actually the peacekeeper of the family. Never in anyone's wildest dreams would they be able to comprehend the idea that big scary Loz was really a big scary crybaby.

It was all about appearances. Appearances, and assumptions, and a system of mass media communication that magnified speculation into cold hard facts in the minds of its consumers. That was what had brought about the current situation the family was dealing with now. One article in a less than reputable newspaper and already the circus was coming to town. Though their father wasn't saying anything to them directly, Riku could imagine the amount of damage control that had to be happening to keep things from getting completely out of hand.

He could remember times that had been much messier; problems that had been cause by his brothers in the early months that they were on the island. They had all been way more volatile back then, and they didn't have the people in place to keep things quiet yet. That had been a time of armed escorts and being confined to their house to keep the media frenzy at bay. At least by now, the reporters and paparazzi had learned that the Anakhulis were not a family to be dealt with lightly. Any investigations into the Bickson situation would probably be handled quietly and there were enough feelers out to make sure that all information going out stayed strictly under control.

There were rules, of course, to this game. Rules that were dictated and manipulated by the players, and the Bicksons had played their first hand well. The Bicksons. Riku snorted at that idea. As if Trav had been in any condition to be conspiring with his father. As if Trav and his father had the kind of relationship that would inspire them to work together. Riku knew as well as the rest of his family that the twisted story that had gone out to the Patriot was the work of Clarence Bickson and Clarence Bickson alone. The feud that existed between that man and Sephiroth had been going for years now, and this was just the kind of thing he would do out of spite.

The problem was, as stupid as the idea seemed on the surface, it had clearly been a fairly well thought out plan. Clarence may have been an asshole, but he was an unfortunately intelligent asshole. He had started the game and so had been first to lay out the rules. Very important pieces had been left out of the story that had gone out to the press, and it was clear that the things that had been omitted were done very intentionally.

There was no mention of Sora in the article at all. That was a clear message. Bickson was fine to leave Sora out of the battle that was bound to ensue. Riku had been relieved by this at first, but it didn't take long for him to see what was really happening. There really was no way _not_ to bring Sora in to the case since his testimony would blow Bickson's case out of the water…except for the fact that, as far as Riku knew, Sora didn't actually remember what had happened. Even contacting Sora to find out if he remembered anything would be enough to put the reporters on his tail.

It was a challenge; a simple manipulation by a man who didn't mind using the emotions of two teenage boys to get what he wanted. Riku had no doubt that if any attempt was made to contact Sora in any way, Bickson would see to it that Sora and his family would be hounded relentlessly. Everything about them would be dug up and put on display for all the world to see, and Sora would lose any shot at normal that may have been possible for him.

Even if Sora did manage to remember something, even if he did counter-sue and tell the story as it had really happened, he'd never be able to hire a lawyer good enough to stand a chance against the people Bickson would have working for him. Any help from Riku's family would make it look like Sora was spinning a story on Riku's behalf…anything they did could be twisted in Bickson's favor, and Sora's life would be torn apart while the court battle dragged on.

They had discussed the situation at great length as soon as the article had come out, but the final decision had been left in Riku's hands. He could call on Sora as a witness and do what they could to protect him from the vultures, or they could try to win the case without Sora and hope that it would be enough to have the truth on their side.

Riku chose truth.

His decision came as no surprise to his family, but it did come with some difficult stipulations. I order to protect Sora from becoming the focus of investigation, Riku would have to cut contact with him completely. That seemed extreme to Riku, but his father assured him that it was a necessary precaution. He would have to be very careful about everything he did as long as the lawsuit was looming, and while that didn't make Riku very happy, he was willing to do it if it meant keeping Sora safe.

It was probably good that things had worked out the way that they had. After this mess, there would be no doubt about Sora leaving the islands. His aunt would want him closer to her so that she could look out for him. Riku would stay. The court thing would blow over, life would go back to the way it had been. Sora would move on… Separating now would just make it easier when he left for good.

As his father pulled into the driveway of their house, Riku looked down at his cell phone, considered the flashing symbol that indicated a message had been left. The number was unknown, but he knew that it would be from Sora. Riku hadn't even stayed around long enough to see him awake before Sephiroth had hustled them all out of the hospital. Riku was only surprised that it had taken so long for the call to come. He studied his phone as he walked, considering. It was so tempting. What harm would there be in just listening to the message; hearing what Sora had to say? He was probably worried, probably wanted to talk about the article because there was little chance that he wouldn't know about it by now.

Riku could imagine Sora, angry and outraged that Bickson would have the balls to try something like this…could almost hear the rant. His lips pulled into a fond smile at the idea, but it was washed away swiftly at the pang of loneliness that stabbed at his heart. He realized with a growing sense of depression that it had been two days since he'd spoken to Sora; two days since he'd heard Sora's voice. Riku missed him, wanted to see him, wanted to wash away the memory of blood and panic and rage that clung to the last time Riku had been with him… But that was impossible. For better or for worse, Riku had committed to staying away, and he had to accept that decision.

He opened the message center on his phone intent on removing temptation by deleting the message without listening to it, but at the last moment he hesitated. His thumb hovered for a moment. He sank onto his bed, finger falling to press the button to the right.

"Your message will be saved for thirty days."

-:- -:- -:-

Waking, for Sora, was usually a slow process. Dreams faded, blended with reality until the moment when he finally began realizing that it was morning and time to get out of bed. Usually he'd roll over and sleep a little more, or an alarm would go off, forcing him out of bed to go turn it off. That was the usual, but there was nothing usual about this morning. Sora was awake immediately, aware that he had been asleep only because of his place under the covers and the heat radiating from the bed around him. His surroundings were strange, the beginnings of morning light illuminating the room, revealing familiar things in an unfamiliar setting.

All of this was ignored. There was only one thought in his mind and he dragged himself from the covers, acting with a single-minded determination. Flashes of the previous evening ran through his mind, cycling endlessly. Things that he'd rather let lie forgotten, but knew he had to face. He pulled on clothes without paying much attention to what he grabbed. Pulled on his braces, conscious only of the fact that they helped ease the aches in parts of his body, but thinking little beyond that.

He thought far enough ahead to grab his wallet and pull on shoes before exiting the house, but then he was functioning primarily on a cross between instinct and auto-pilot. He wasn't very familiar with this part of the island, but he knew where he needed to go and knew that he had to find a way to get there. He knew basically the location of the nearest main street, knew most of the bus lines by heart. The needed information was there. All that was left was going.

The morning was growing brighter, though the house still slept. He wasn't trying to be particularly quiet as he made his way out, but no one heard him. He hobbled as he walked on his injured ankle, shuffled slowly down the drive, but his mind was far from the minor pain it caused him. He was too intent on trying to understand what had happened to him, and where he needed to go next. His memories were still scattered, fragmented pieces of a story that he knew only through the words of others. But if what he was remembering was true, then he couldn't completely trust those who were telling the story.

Why wouldn't Rinoa tell him the whole truth? Why would she keep something so major from him? He could understand her wanting to protect him, but he'd rather have had her tell him everything from the beginning than have the knowledge come back to him this way; fragments and pieces, falling together but still making no sense. Not knowing made it infinitely worse, compounded all the more by the sting of lost trust.

The sense of detachment was back and stronger than it had been before. His mind could only buzz with questions, wondering what he was supposed to do next. What else could have happened that he didn't know about? What would he do if the worst proved true? Would he really be able to accept that, even if he never remembered it? He just didn't know. He didn't know how to feel. Without the whole story, how could he? There were too many gaps, too much missing information. So many questions and apparently the answers were all in his head, but he couldn't reach them. Maybe they were gone, altogether. Maybe he would never figure out what had really happened. It was all so confusing. He didn't know what to do…had no where else to turn…

"You're here early today, Sora. You doing alright?"

Sora looked up into the worried eyes of the morning nurse at the reception counter. Anna was her name. He'd only met her a couple of times, but it seemed the entire staff at Way to Dawn knew who he was after all the years he'd been visiting the place. She reminded him a lot of Tia, somehow.

"Can I see my mom?" he asked, and was shocked by the broken quality of his voice; how much it felt like he was standing on unsteady ground. He wasn't entirely sure why he'd come to see his mother now of all times. Logically, he knew that there was nothing she could do to help him, but…he just really wanted his mom. The part of him that had been waiting patiently for so many years for his mother to get better just wanted her take him in her arms and make all the bad things go away in that special way that only a mother could. He was tired, and for once looking for someone to lean on, and found that the channels of support he thought would be there when he needed them just, weren't. Here was the only place he could think to go.

It was almost visible as Anna's heart fractured a bit at the look of defeat in his eyes. It was early. The likelihood of his mother being awake or ready for visitors was low, but she hurried to the counter and made a call. A few minutes later, the door that led back to the patients' rooms swung open, and a young man appeared, watching Sora expectantly.

"Well come on," he gestured with an encouraging nod of his head, and Sora didn't hesitate. He led the way to his mother's room and waited patiently while the door was opened to let him in. "You know the drill, right?" the orderly asked before opening the door. "I'm Danny, by the way. Just call when you're ready to go."

Sora nodded, then entered the room where his mother was sitting at the edge of her bed, a terry cloth robe tied over her worn cotton nightgown. The view from her window was spectacular, sunrise colors painting the sky in brilliant pinks and purples. The warm light softened the lines on her face, making her look younger; reminding Sora of how she had been before. It was a painful reminder of his past, causing old doubts and old questions to resurface. All of the 'what if's and 'could have been's; wondering at what his life would have been like if his father had never gone missing all those years ago, or if his mother had been able to accept the truth.

"Pao?"

His father's name spoken in his mother's trembling voice sent an unexpected stab of pain through his chest. That wound was raw today. In fact, he felt raw all over, like his entire being had become just one exposed nerve. He was suddenly hypersensitive to everything; the light in the room, the vague scent of mentholatum in the air…and the intensity of his mother's eyes. There was clarity there that he had not seen in years, and his heart fell leaden in his chest. His brain had put the pieces together first, but the rest of him was slow to follow.

He knew what she was seeing. He was battered, and wrinkled, and covered in bandages, head wrapped in gauze, binding down his unruly hair. People always had said that he would be the splitting image of his father when he got older.

The final knife was driven home when his mother, who for years had shown no sign of life beyond the occasional sentence or tilt of head, burst into tears. She cried, and staggered to her feet and all but threw herself on Sora.

"Pao! Oh, Pao! I knew you'd come back! You promised that you would never leave me alone! I knew it! I knew you'd come back to me!"

She began raining kisses over his face, her tears wetting his cheeks, mixing with his own which had begun falling the moment that she had touched him. Something in him twisted with every press of her lips. He'd come for this…her embrace, her love. But it wasn't for him. All the years of waiting and willing her to see him. All that time spent at her side, trying to get through to her; trying to let her know that she wasn't alone. _He_ was there for her. _He_ loved her. _He _would take care of her. All that time, for what? Nothing apparently. No matter how many times Sora reached out to her, she never once reached back; never _would_ have reached back. Because, what she had been waiting for was what Sora knew she was seeing now. In her eyes, he probably looked like her husband, back from the dead, and apparently, she would not have come back for anything less than that particular miracle. It hurt…far more than he thought it would…

"_MOM!_" he roared, pushing her hands away with his good arm and gripping her shoulder. That twisting something in him had broken, and he felt like he was coming apart from the inside out. "_Mother!_" He shook her this time, her eyes wide with confusion at the rough treatment, and the lost look in her eyes only broke him further. His view of her was blurry with tears, but he couldn't bring himself to wipe them away. He feared that if he let go of her at all, he would lose her for good, and that was…unacceptable. He couldn't lose her. He just couldn't. She was all he had left.

"I'm not him!" he cried, desperate to get through to her. "He's dead! Dad has been dead for _six years_, Mom. Why can't you accept it?!" He choked back a sob as she tried to pull away from him, shaking her head in denial. "Mom, _please!_' He allowed her to back up to her bed, lowering both of them as he knelt on the carpet in front of her.

"Please," he repeated. "I know it's hard. I know it hurts, but it's ok. You're not alone." On an impulse, he reached down and lifted her right hand to his face, cupping her palm against his cheek the same way she used to when he was little. "I'm still here. _I_ still need you. Please, mom…please…"

He didn't know what else to say. He released her hand and it slipped away from his cheek, and all he could do was bury his face in her lap and cry. He'd never let himself give up before, never once entertained the idea that his mother simply would never get better. For the first time in his life, that cruel reality set in. He simply wasn't enough. Nothing he did—nothing he _could_ do—would be enough to bring her back from where she was hiding within herself. He just wasn't what she wanted.

He felt…abandoned. Completely alone, cut off from everything that he thought he could depend on. Rinoa's lies, Riku's absence, and now he stood rejected. By his own mother no less. He didn't know what to do, had nowhere left to turn. Never in all of his life had he felt so lost.

"Sora?"

It took his mind a moment to recognize the timid voice, the soft touch of fingers in the hair at the top of his head.

"Sora? Baby?"

"Mom?"

It was too much to hope, too much to believe, but Sora lifted his head all the same. She was looking down at him, tears still streaming down her cheeks, but her eyes were clear. They were still vaguely distant, like she didn't quite understand what was happening, but she was looking at him. _Really_ looking at him. The rush of hope in the wake of such utter despair was painful, his body jerking at the sudden reversal. He had no words. He just stared at her a moment longer before returning his head to her lap and letting the tears flow.

"Shhh…it's alright, baby," she whispered, fingers growing bolder as they traced patterns through his hair. "Mommy's here now. It's alright. I've let you down for so long, but I'm gonna do better. Mommy will make everything all better, just you wait."

And Sora believed her; in no way doubted her, because really, she already had.

-:- -:- -:-

It came as no shock that Rinoa was worried sick by the time Sora got around to calling her. It was almost noon, and while he couldn't be sure at what point she realized that he wasn't in his room, she'd obviously figured it out long enough to start panicking. She was yelling at him now over the phone at the reception desk, ranting on about responsibility, and letting people know where he was going, and letting others help him, and on and on. He could have laughed, probably would have been a little bitter had the lecture come earlier in the day, or had things not worked out as well as they had. As it stood, there was little that could pull Sora out of his happy mood.

He'd spent the morning with his mother. For the first time in years, he'd sat with her, and talked with her, and she had listened. _Really_ listened, and heard him. He didn't even get into the details of the current drama in his life, just caught her up with what had happened while she was away. Told her about Blitzball and all the things that he loved about the sport. He'd spoken and she'd just watched him, eyes glistening with tears.

Of course, there had to be time for the doctors to come in and speak with her too, but Sora stayed. He wanted to be there for her, to show her that he had been telling the truth. He would stand by her side through whatever came next, because that's what family did. Finally, he would be able to start piecing his life back together, and maybe—just maybe—he would get another shot at something that was closer to normal.

Rinoa arrived at Way to Dawn not long after Sora had called her cell phone. Apparently she had been out in the city looking for him. By the time she'd gotten there, she was over her anger and was just…awed. Like everyone else, Rinoa had believed that there was nothing to be done about Rie Holani; that Sora was putting his hope into something that would never happen. She was proven wrong that day.

Sora couldn't help but feel a little smug. No one else had believed it possible, but his mother had proven them all wrong. He felt like it was a sign. Despite everything that was happening, there was this ray of light that out-shined all else.

There was a saying on the islands "Life can't lead those blinded by life." For the first time, Sora really understood what that meant. He'd been letting all of the craziness that had been happening drag him down. How many signs had he missed? How many opportunities passed by because he hadn't taken the time to see them? How much of his situation was due to his own inability to take note of what was right in front of him? Or maybe it had all happened the way it had for a reason. After all, if things had worked out differently—if Bickson hadn't attacked him and Riku hadn't ditched him and Rinoa hadn't lied to him—maybe he wouldn't have come to see his mother. Maybe she wouldn't have gotten better under any other circumstances.

Maybe he was getting a prod from his family's namesake.

Hope and light. They were what Sora had lived by for as long as he could remember, but things had changed with the beginning of the school year. He never realized before just how much living on his own had dragged him down. But, when he took a moment to think about it, it had been harder and harder to keep in touch with those ideas when he was so tired every day and had to put up with so much crap at school.

That was over now, he knew. Sora felt refreshed in a way he hadn't been in years. Hope and confidence filled him where doubt and despair had been before, and it was an amazing feeling. It was like he could take on the world and win without breaking a sweat. Everything was possible; all problems would work themselves out, and fear...fear was a thing of the past.

He gave his mom a kiss on the cheek and hugged her before leaving that day. He still marveled at the way she hugged him back, holding him tightly for a long moment before letting go. She had made the major break-through to getting well, but things weren't that easy. She wasn't all better just because she had awoken to the reality, and it would still be weeks, if not months before she would be well enough to be released. That didn't matter though. The thing that stayed with Sora now was the fact that it would be happening. It wasn't 'someday' any more. It was 'sometime early next year,' and he knew that his smile had to be glowing as he made his way out into the afternoon sun with his aunt.

"You're gonna make me pull my shades out smiling like that, Sora," Rinoa said, laughing. "I wouldn't recognize you from the kid I brought home from the hospital yesterday."

"I don't _feel_ like the kid you brought home from the hospital yesterday," he admitted. "It's like all of my injuries don't even matter. The attack, and the memory loss…I don't even care anymore. Rin, she's going to be alright! She's _really going to be alright!_"

He pounced on her, as best as his physical state allowed. Hopping around on one foot, using her fully functional body to balance against as he took a moment to let reality set in. While he'd been with his mother, it had just been so…unbelievable. He just wanted to keep all of his focus on her and letting her know that he was there. But now that they were leaving, now that his mother wasn't there watching, he just wanted to jump around and dance and laugh and hug the world.

"I need to call Riku! And Kairi! And Roxas! And Naminé! And…I don't know…Cid! And we should throw a party! At Leon's place! You think he would mind? And—"

"Whoooa, there kiddo," Rinoa said, pushing Sora back and holding him steady. "Breathe for me first and then we'll see where to go from there."

Sora just smiled at her, loving his aunt more in that moment than he ever had before. She was family, and that had become the most important thing in the world.

"I love you, Rin," he told her, sobering. " You know that right?"

She smiled at him warmly and for a second, he thought she might cry. Instead she pulled him back into a warm embrace. "Yeah, Sora. I know. I love you, too."

"I know," he told her, returning the hug. "And I know that you try to do what's best for me, but it really hurt that you didn't tell me the whole story of what happened when Bickson jumped me."

He felt her tense at the words before pulling back to look him in the eye. "You remembered what happened?" She asked, holding his gaze with an intensity that almost brought some of that fear back from the past.

"Only bits and piece," he told her. "Feeling and sounds and sensations mainly. I was hoping you could help me make sense of it."

Rinoa gave him a firm nod, brows creased in concern or contemplation or both. The mood was considerably less light than it had been when they'd fist exited the building, but the warmth was still there between them; a connection that Sora was sure came from the shared blood running through their veins.

"Let me get you home and fed first, and then I'll tell you everything you want to know."

"Alright," he said, getting them moving towards the guest parking area again. "But hey, can I use your cell phone on the way back?"

Rinoa laughed and rolled her eyes and Sora knew that things would be ok. If she could lighten up that easily, then surely nothing extreme could have happened. He was glad. That meant that nothing was going to ruin his good mood, and oh how nice it was to be in a good mood again.

-:- -:- -:-

It shouldn't have been funny.

In all reality, it wasn't funny. That didn't, however, keep Sora from guffawing like a lunatic, wiping stray tears from his eyes as he tried to get himself under control. He couldn't help it. He'd gotten himself so bent out of shape over a failed attempt by Bickson to prove just how big of an bastard he really wasthat had also gotten mixed up in his head with his aunt apparently walking in on him having some "personal time" in a hotel bathroom first thing in the morning. Perhaps if he took a little bit more time to think about the implications of either one of those scenarios, he would be a bit more disturbed…a bit more embarrassed, too. But the truth was, nothing had happened. He was fine, Bickson would be fine, Riku was hopefully fine, his _mother_ was fine…it was just a day of _FINE!_

"Well, I'll admit you took this better than I thought you would," Rinoa said, watching him, with some concern, from her seat on the couch beside him. "Are you sure this is humor and not…hysteria?"

This only sent Sora into another fit of laughter and he had to take a moment to confer with himself to make sure Rinoa didn't have a point. A shooting pain from his still concussed head was what finally forced him to calm. The goofy grin on his face remained, but it was ok. Everything was still very fine as far as he was concerned and there wasn't much that could change that.

"Alright, Sora, I get it. You're really happy that your mom is getting better," Rinoa said, completely taken by his infectious happiness. "I think this will make this next part easier to talk about. I'm heading back to Midgar tomorrow night."

That got Sora's attention very fast. "What? I thought you were staying until the end of the week!"

"That was the original plan," Rinoa told him, but I got a call from the office today. They told me that if I couldn't be back to work by Thursday, they were going to find someone to replace me. I'm still in my trial period, remember? As it is, I've just used up all of my sick days for the rest of the year and I literally can't take any more time off. These people are serious about this work. My own father could die and they'd expect me to still come in." It was meant to be a joke, but Sora could see that she was genuinely worried.

"Then if that's the case, you should try for an earlier flight, right? See if you can leave tonight, even."

"Sora," she sighed, "maybe. Just…there are a few other things we need to talk about before I go. Top of the list right now being, your mother."

"What about her?" Sora asked, smile faltering into a look of mild concern.

"Look, Sora," she started, rubbing her head as if to ward off a headache, "Your mom is doing a lot better, but it's still going to take time for her to be released. In the mean time, we still have the same situation with the insurance. I mean, you know that this doesn't change much, right? Just because your mom is aware now doesn't mean that she will be well enough to live with you or take care of you. She may never get to that point, Sora. I still want the two of you to move to the mainland where I can look out for you both."

"Well maybe we don't need you looking out for us," Sora said, shifting uncomfortably in his seat. He wanted the old happier mood back. "I mean…now that mom won't need to stay at that place anymore, I bet I could—"

"Bet you could what, Sora?" Rinoa demanded. "Get your jobs back? Barely make enough to get by and then work yourself into an early grave trying to go to school, take care of yourself _and_ you mother all at the same time?" She let out a laugh that sounded like she was the one approaching hysterical now. "I don't know _why_ I let you talk me into letting you stay here to begin with! I must have been out of my _mind_!"

Sora frowned at his aunt, feeling the first stirrings of anger. This conversation had taken a very sudden and unexpected turn for the worst. "I did just fine on my own this whole time, Rin. Just—"

"_Fine?!_" Rinoa cut him off again, "Is _this_ what you call 'fine'?" she gestured at his bruised and battered self. "And let's not even mention that time when you apparently almost _died_ during practice and forgot to mention it to me."

"I handled it didn't I?"

"You definitely did, Sora. Handled it so well that you ended up with pneumonia and had to live with your friend for a week, and then you lied to me about that even! You said you had the flu! And how about your grades, Sora? I wasn't going to say anything about it, but clearly _not_ talking is not the way to go. It seems like there are a lot of things that we've just been letting _slip_ by." She was on a roll now, and Sora somehow didn't foresee the conversation ending well.

"I have been checking in on you, y'know. Calling the main office to see how you've been doing in classes. You're passing, yes, but just barely. Your 'A's and 'B's have steadily dropped to mostly 'C's. A 'D' in your science class!? I bet you take time every week to figure out what assignments you can miss while still keeping good enough grades to stay on the Blitz team. Do you really think you're going to get into a good college with grades like that? Have you even thought about that, Sora?"

"YES, Rin! I've thought about it," Sora snapped, irritated by the way she was talking at him and not giving him a chance to explain himself. "Why do you think Blitz is so important to me!? Why do you think I don't want to leave the islands?! Midgar doesn't even have a Blitz Association! I wouldn't even be able to play anymore, and _then_ what am I supposed to do?! Blitzball is the only thing I'm actually _good_ at."

"Sora that's not—"

"_Yes it is!_" he was on his feet now, far more agitated than he wanted to be. "I'm decent at other things, but Blitz is different. I mean, every time I get into the tank, it's like coming home…everything just _feels_ right. Why else do you think I'd tough through all of the _bull shit_ this year? I've played in one game, Rin. _One_ game this whole season because of all the stuff that's been going on, but for me it was worth it. For one game. Do you get that?

"And what about my friends? What about my culture?! Am I just supposed to drop all of that to come and live with you in some stupid city just because things are a little rough right now? No, Rinoa! I don't want to. Things are finally starting to straighten themselves out, you can't make me leave just as things are getting okay!"

They remained silent for a while, mentally regrouping as the tension settled in the air, distributing itself more evenly so that it didn't have such a choking effect anymore.

"Alright then, Sora," Rinoa said finally. "You are emancipated, I can't force you to move in with me," Sora felt his muscles relax at that victory. "However, your mother's well-being is still _my_ responsibility, and she _will_ be moving to Midgar as soon as I find a place that can continue her treatment."

"_You can't_—"

"I _can_, Sora," she snapped, patience at its limit. "I can, and I will, and if you were thinking straight right know, you would _know_ that this is the best thing for her in the long run."

At this point a short staring contest ensued between aunt and nephew, a test of will with an inevitable outcome. Sora was the first to look away. He knew she was right, he just wasn't ready to accept it yet, the very idea too big for him to fully grasp.

"Whether you decide to come with us or not is your decision," she said sounding far more tired than Sora had ever heard her sound. "I can't force you. Just let me know before the end of the week so that I'll know what size apartment I'll need to be looking for. The other thing I wanted to talk to you about is this." With a rustle of paper and a plop on the table, the subject was changed, though the new topic was not any more pleasant. Before them lay a copy of the Patriot, dated the previous day. The main article read "BICKSON VS. ANAKHULI" in large red letters.

"From the lack of shock on your face, I take it you already know about this," Rinoa commented dully. Sora nodded, reaching out to grab the paper cautiously, as if it might come to life and brainwash him into believing Bickson's story was true. He flipped to the article and began skimming through it.

"It's a difficult situation, Sora. In theory, we should have enough evidence to nail Clarence Bickson's ass to the wall, but—"

"The memory thing's kind of a problem, right?"

She sighed. "Right. At this point, your testimony would be a whole lot of hear-say unless you remember first hand exactly what happened. Once again, as an independent, the choice it yours, but I want you to know that dealing with families with the kind of influence the Bicksons and Anakhulis have will get messy…very messy. And if you decide that you want to go through with it, I need to know as soon as possible because we're going to need all the help we can get as soon as we can get it."

Sora sat for a moment, quietly studying the article in front of him. There was part of him that wanted to go to court just to see Bickson go down for even trying to pull a stunt like this. But then there was the warning in Rinoa's voice. He didn't know what they would be up against. Clearly she did, and she didn't sound very optimistic about it. Sora wasn't sure what he should do.

"I'm going to school tomorrow," he said at last. Rinoa only blinked at him in confusion from the non sequitur. "I need to talk to Riku about this, and he's not returning my calls. I doubt he's missing school over something this stupid, so I'll just have to go and track him down in person. I'll take it easy, and if I get tired or dizzy or anything, I'll just ask to be excused to the nurse's office or Leon can drive me home."

Rinoa just nodded, squeezing the bridge of her nose as if she were too tired to argue with him over it. That was good, because Sora was decided. He needed to talk to Riku. Something was up and he wanted to know what. There had to be a reason for his conspicuous absence of the past few days, and Sora suspected that it had something to do with the article and the coming court battle. Even if that wasn't the case, even if maybe Riku had changed his mind about them taking a shot at figuring out what they could be together, Sora would see to it that he got an explanation to his face. Riku owed him at least that much.

-:- -:- -:-

Riku frowned as he pulled into the student parking lot on Wednesday. It was the second day that that he had made his way to school that week alone, and it was disconcerting how wrong it felt. It really hadn't been very long since he started picking Sora up from his apartment in the mornings—only a few weeks really—but in those few weeks, he'd grown very accustomed to Sora's bright presence. He was disturbed by how much he missed having someone there; how strange he felt at having nothing to look forward to in the mornings other than another long day of classes and practice.

More disturbing was the fact that it wasn't just 'someone' he was missing. It wasn't like he could choose an arbitrary stranger to pick up in the mornings and have everything be okay again. It was _Sora_ he was missing. _Sora_ he wanted to see, and to hold, and to joke and laugh with. There were a thousand little things that he missed about the smaller boy without even realizing it, and he didn't like it. This feeling of absence was far too close to other feelings; more painful feelings, and while he would deny it to his dying breath, that scared him.

He'd missed class on Monday so that he could generally get his shit together and spend a little more time with Kadaj before he left, but he had no real reason to miss school on Tuesday, so he had gone. It came as no surprise that the rumor mill was still going strong, but, to Riku's mild confusion, some of the stories that were circulating were uncomfortably close to the truth. It made him feel better in some ways, knowing that the guessing teenage population of his school could put the pieces together and come to something close to the right conclusion. The problem was that his classmates had a lot more information than the press or the courts. There was no guarantee that without that information, a jury would come to the same conclusions.

The other problem was that the student population was completely unaware of the fact that Riku was trying to keep Sora's involvement in the things that had happened that weekend under wraps. There was no guarantee that the press would not come to his school and start asking questions. Heck, they probably already had, and that meant that there were probably more than a few reporter types who knew that he and Sora were close…more than close even. He had to wonder, not for the first time, how possible it would really be to keep Sora out of things in the end.

He took some solace in the knowledge that the circulating stories were all just speculation at that point. Anything that a student said about the incident with Bickson would be nothing but guess work. Sora's absence from school lent some credibility to the assumption that he was involved, yes, but there was no proof. Unless Sora came back to school sporting all of his injuries, there would be no real connection between the two occurrences.

Riku was confident, however, that he wouldn't have to worry about Sora making an appearance until the following week at the earliest. With his aunt around, there was no way that Sora would be allowed to go to school while he was still hurt. That was a good thing. Riku wasn't looking forward to playing hide and seek with Sora while they were at school, but he didn't know how else he was supposed to limit their interactions. It would be bad enough with them sharing a class and doing Blitz together. But, Riku reflected wryly, that hadn't mattered at he beginning of the year. He'd somehow managed to keep Sora light years away back then.

Riku was fairly certain in his assumption about Sora's continued absence, lost in thought about the early months when he couldn't stand to even look at the boy who had become so important to him. So sure was he in his assumption that he had put off planning his avoidance measures. He never thought to scan the crowd for a head of familiar bobbing brown spikes. Never thought to change his usual routes to his usual haunts in the mornings. It never even occurred to him to think about what he would do if Sora found him one morning and dragged him off into one of the school gardens where no one would be so that they could speak privately. This is probably why, when this very even took place as he wandered the campus that morning, he was left sputtering and gaping in a near apoplectic fit of shock.

"Hey, Riku," Sora said, looking at him a little sheepishly. "Did you get my messages? I tried to call you a couple of times."

As Riku came back from his fit, he was reminded of the rules that had been laid down by his father. He wasn't supposed to have any contact with Sora at all. He was supposed to avoid him at school as much as possible, and ignore him when they had to be in the same location for any reason. All of this swarmed through his mind, but as he stood there, all he could really focus on was Sora. Sora, who was standing in front of him, clean bandages wrapped around his head, arm held in a sling, foot wrapped in a supportive brace, bruises still standing dark against his skin. Sora, who had been missing from his life for over three days now.

Something sharp and painful twisted in his chest and without thinking, he had reached out and pulled the smaller boy to him. There had been part of him that couldn't let go of the image he had seen in that locker room on Sunday morning. Despite all the reports from his father that said that Sora was fine—that he had come out of the hospital relatively healthy and whole—Riku could only remember Bickson pressing him into the shower room wall…and all that blood. Having Sora standing there in front of him was almost miraculous. He'd resigned himself to not really seeing him anymore, but there he was; all warm, soft familiarity. He took a long moment to indulge in the heat of their bodies pressed so close together, breathed in and savored that comforting scent. He allowed himself the time to acknowledged relief then pulled back, glaring.

"What the hell are you _doing_ here?!" he asked angrily, guiding Sora to the nearest bench an sitting him down firmly. The wince that came of that only served to intensify Riku's irritation. "Look at you! You can barely even stand up and you're waltzing around school like you've never been better! Are you seriously that terminally screwed in the head? Did you learn _nothing_ from the last time this happened?!"

He would have continued in his tirade if it weren't for the fact that Sora had the most distracting smirk pulling at his lips indicating that he was not taking the lecture very seriously.

"What? Is something about this funny?" Riku snapped, and the smirk became a full-fledged smile.

"Yes, actually," Sora said, rising an eyebrow and standing while he was at it. "It's nice to know that you still care."

And then warm lips were covering Riku's own, and all thoughts of lawsuits and injuries flew from his mind. There was only the slide of mouth over mouth, the slight sweetness on Sora's tongue from whatever he had consumed before coming to school, and then Sora; the taste and feel and smell of him, overwhelming, intoxicating. Riku had missed this, hadn't realized how much until that moment, and when Sora pulled away a moment later, it left his mind reeling and heart aching.

"I've been wanting to do that for a while now," Sora admitted as he stepped back as sat down on the bench behind him again. Riku could only look down at him dumbly. The smirk was back on Sora's lips, Riku's entire focus trapped on the smooth curve of them. But then he felt a tug on his hand, and he was being pulled down to sit beside Sora before he even realized that he hadn't realized that Sora had clasped their hands together at some point.

"Well, I guess that answers the question about whether you changed your mind about us," Sora muttered , to himself, but then he was looking back up at Riku, eyes almost painfully in their intensity. "So then what's up, Riku? Why have you been ignoring me?"

There was something different about Sora. Riku could see it in the way he carried himself, hear it in the directness of his voice, the way he phrased his questions. There was something…lighter about him, like some of the weight he'd been carrying all semester had somehow been lifted. In just three days, he had changed so much.

"You're different," Riku found himself saying, completely ignoring the question that had been asked. He remembered when Sora had almost drowned and how down he'd been for days after the attack; how down he had been. Logically, this time around there should have been a similar response, if not stronger. Instead, there was a strange peace about him. "So you gonna tell me what happened, or what?" Riku asked, knowing that whatever it was, it had to be very good bring Sora out of the dark mood he should have been in.

"If you'd called me back…" Sora said pointedly, but smiled to let him know that there was no real sting behind the words. "I wanted to tell you yesterday. My mom is better. She's still really confused and the doctors are working with her, but she's aware, Riku. She knows who I am and everything."

Riku looked at Sora, mouth falling open and staying that way, the words not fully registering for a moment. But then meaning started filtering in. Sora's mother was aware. She was really getting better, wouldn't need to stay in the care center for very much longer.

"Shit, Sora…that's AWSOME!" Again he had pulled Sora into an embrace, this one stronger, tighter, hoping that his hold could express his feelings better than words.

"Ow! Riku! Still concussed! Sprained shoulder! OW!"

Sora's protests sent Riku jumping back, scooting away from the brunet as if he had suddenly grown needles all over his body. He felt like a complete ass! …until he saw Sora's face. Then, he couldn't help but join in the laughter, even though he didn't quite get the joke.

"Seriously, what is with people trying to squeeze me to death when I'm broken?!" Sora managed between chuckles. "Is it really that easy to forget?"

"Yeah, when you drop news like that!" Riku retorted. "When did it happen? _How_ did it happen?"

Sora took a few minutes to explain the events leading up to his mother's miraculous recovery, and Riku immediately felt the nagging claws of guilt ripping slowly through his guts.

"I should have been there," he said, mainly to himself, but Sora heard and responded.

"No, I don't think you should have," he said, and Riku looked up, surprised and more than a little confused. "Look, Riku, I'm not gonna say that I wasn't a little pissed that you never showed or called or made any effort to contact me after I got out of the hospital—because I was. More than a little, really. But honestly, if things hadn't gone exactly as they did, I don't think I would've ever gotten through to her."

Riku studied the look on Sora's face as he spoke. There was something so calm about him, like he'd been wrapped in a blanket of peace and none of the problems of the world could touch him anymore. There was a part of Riku that envied that even as he was beyond happy to see Sora get some of the good that he deserved in his life. It would maybe take some time to get used to this new Sora. He didn't seem to need as much help, as much support as the Sora Riku had know before, but Riku was fine with that. He was looking forward to knowing the Sora that lived under all the responsibility that had once been there now that it was gone.

"So does that mean things are straightened out with you and moving?" Riku asked, a spike of hope hitting him as the thought struck. "You said that if your mom got better you guys could stay, right?"

The hope fled as Sora's expression changed just so. "I don't know," he said, but Riku knew that was a lie. The cloud that had fallen over his face spoke volumes. "My aunt said that she was still going to take my mother back to the mainland no matter what. Even though I'm independent, Rinoa is still in charge of all the stuff that has to do with my mom's care. I told her that I didn't want to go, and she said I could stay…but she's taking my mom."

"And you're going to go with her," Riku was shocked, himself, by the bitterness in his voice when he spoke. He hadn't meant the words to come out sounding like that, but they had. In the wake of his receding hope had come a wave of dark despair that had filtered into his voice. It was a cold feeling, disguising itself as anger, but closer to fear in reality, streaked through with something that tasted sharply of betrayal.

"She's my mother, Riku," Sora said, looking at him, a sudden defensiveness breaking the calm that had surrounded them both moments before. "Why do you sound pissed that I would chose to go with her instead of stay here?"

'…with you' were the words left off the end of the sentence, but Riku still heard them in his heart. It hurt. Expected as this move had been on some level, that didn't change to ache of abandonment he felt. Even knowing that there was no other choice, that Sora was doing the only thing that he could, didn't make the feelings any less biting, or the truth any easier to accept.

"Who says, I'm pissed?" Riku ground out through the swell of emotion that was growing in his chest, closing off his throat. His eyes were focused on the ground in front of him. "I was simply stating the obvious."

"Riku, what is _wrong_ with you?!" Sora snapped, grabbing Riku's shoulder angrily with his good hand and shoving so that Riku turned to face him. "Why are you being like this? I know it sucks, but it's not the end of the world if I move to Midgar. We can stay in touch, and it's not like we'll never see each other again. You said yourself that your father would probably be moving back after a couple of years. You could come with him."

"And what? Pick up where we left off?" He was on his feet before realizing it, pacing the ground in front of the bench. "That's _years_ from now Sora, we're not even going to be the same people anymore."

"So what? Why would we need to be? That has nothing to do with this."

"It has everything to do with this, because with me here and you there, _this_ doesn't exist anymore." There. He'd said it. The heart of the issue had been laid bare and he waited to see where Sora would take it next.

"Why not, Riku!?" The smaller boy rushed upwards, causing Riku to take a step back. "I'm moving to a different city. You're acting like I'm going off to die or something! Maybe this thing that we have wouldn't work long distance, but that doesn't mean we can't still be friends."

"Friends," Riku scoffed, looking anywhere but at Sora. The hurt wouldn't stop spreading. His head was aching with it now, and every word Sora said just seemed to make it worse. Apparently the relationship that Riku thought they had was an illusion if Sora was so willing to let it go without a fight.

"Yes, friends," Sora continued to drive the knife deeper. "That's what I thought we were."

"No, Sora. What we were was stupid," Riku told him darkly, face a carefully blank mask as he directed his eyes somewhere left of the bandages that were taming Sora's usually unruly spikes. "Stupid to think that this ever could've worked. Or maybe that was just me." He could practically feel the warmth bleeding from his chest as his insides turned cold. "I should have known that there was no room in your life for anyone other than your—"

"Leave her out of it," Sora hissed before Riku could even finish. "This has nothing to do with my mother."

And so quickly, the cold was replaced with white-hot rage. "Doesn't it?!" he snapped. "I mean, look at you! You're just like her! You've got all these people falling all over themselves to help you, but you can't see it. Everything else comes second. She's given you _nothing_ yet you throw everything away for her all the time!"

"I can't believe this!" There was bitter laughter in Sora's voice, and Riku couldn't help but look down at the humorless grin that lent a hardness to Sora's usually warm features. "You're jealous! You're mad because I'm choosing my mother over you!"

"That's not—"

"It is!" Sora interrupted him again which only served to set Riku's temper spiking even higher, coming closer to breaking beyond his control. "Grow up, Riku! Life doesn't always go the way we want it to, but we all have to make the best of what we get. I guess I was hoping to much to think someone like you would understand that."

Riku felt himself go rigid. "And what is that supposed to mean?" he asked in a carefully controlled voice.

"It means that you're used to getting your way," Sora told him, "and don't try to deny it. Even if you don't ask them to, you're used to people doing what you want. Well, I'm not one of your groupies, Riku! This is my life, my _mother_, and if you can't accept that then I guess I was fooling myself thinking you weren't the heartless bastard you always seem to be!"

Riku stared at him for a long moment, too shocked to even think. It wasn't the first time he had been accused of being heartless, but never before had it come from someone close enough to matter. He couldn't even formulate words. A good thing probably, because he was pretty sure that anything that came out of his mouth would do more damage than anything else. He just turned away, stunned and numb, and not entirely sure how they had gotten from the start of the conversation to where they were now.

"Fine!" Sora called after him, voice shaking with emotion. "Go ahead! Run away. It seems to be what you do best!"

And something in Riku snapped. He wasn't entirely sure of what he was doing, aware only that he had been hurt and instincts cried for him to hurt right back.

"Don't you talk to me about running way," he growled, turning to face Sora once again. This time he met the angry blue gaze unflinchingly. "_You're_ the one living in denial. You know your mother doesn't love you. Not the way you want her to, but you just can't let go of your happily every after, can you?" He took several steps back down the path, closing in on Sora's now trembling form. Riku stopped just in front of him, leaning in, using superior height to best advantage.

"What? D'you think everything's fixed now just because she's back from Lala land? Bullshit. How long before she starts missing him again, Sora?" He leaned in closer still. "How long before she figures out that you're really just not enough? Maybe next time she'll decide to take the more _direct_ route to finding your dad again." The last he spoke directly into Sora's ear, said so softly he heard the hitch of breath that betrayed some emotion in the other boy that was too deep to name. He took a grim satisfaction knowing that he had delivered a blow that matched the one currently tearing his own heart apart.

"And even then, you still won't get it." He stood back now, looking down at the damage he'd dealt. Sora was shaking, angry, face flushed, fists tight, jaw clenched so firmly that Riku expected to hear teeth cracking at any moment. But there was more than that. What Riku saw in Sora's eyes was pain. Anger, yes, but mostly, it was hiding a fear that was streaked through with betrayal. Riku smiled darkly as he turned and walked away.

"That's called pathetic, Sora," he tossed over his shoulder, "and I'm done with it. Have a nice life."

And those were his last words. From there he left the garden, didn't even bother looking back. Sora didn't follow him. Didn't come rushing off the path behind him to deliver a kick to the back of his head or tell him off for being the ass that he was. Riku knew he wouldn't. This was for the best. Sora had made his choice and Riku would make it easier for both of them. Better to end things from the start than to wait for Sora to be too distracted by city life. Better to end things on his terms. Better to hurt back before he could be hurt again.

_Yes,_ he assured himself. _It's better this way_, and he focused his thoughts on ignoring the ghost of shattered trust raining from blue eyes, and focused his heart on denying the ache of regret that weigh more heavily on him than anything else.

-:-- -:- -:-

The days that followed were…strange. In ways that Riku couldn't really define. He thought that it would be easy. Before Sora had come into his life he had gotten by somehow, right? How hard could it be to go back to that? All of his old friends were still there. It shouldn't have been a problem. But it wasn't that simple. All of his old friends were connected to Sora now and he couldn't sit with them without the inevitable questions coming up. Even if he didn't answer, that didn't keep them from talking.

It seemed no matter what he did, Riku couldn't avoid encountering Sora in some form during the day. The halls were full of whispered speculation about the case, and word of Sora's impending departure had spread quickly after Wednesday's Blitzball practice. Sora had arrived at the tank only to find that Coach Clayton had already removed him from the team and replaced him with Jasmine. Apparently Sora had missed to many practices which were grounds for permanent suspension. The team had been pissed. Coach hadn't told them that Jasmine was meant to be a permanent replacement, and with the latest news on the Blitzball trials coming in the Spring, that meant Sora wouldn't be able to participate. Only current team members could qualify.

Sora hadn't been bothered by this at all. He'd calmly explained that he would be leaving at the end of the semester anyway and left the pool area with a small shrug and wistful smile. Everyone was too shocked to say anything, and practiced continued. They had a game to prep for on Friday. Sora hadn't even looked in Riku's direction through the entire encounter.

Talk of Sora increased in Riku's circle as the Blitzers talked about how much it sucked that Sora would be leaving just before he could have been trying for a shot at professional backing for his Blitz career. It could have meant a scholarship to some other school on the mainland, one that had a team. Someplace where he would have been able to play Blitz _and_ be closer to his mother.

That was the other thing that Riku couldn't avoid hearing about as well. Apparently, Sora wasn't being quite so tightlipped about the situation with his mom anymore. He'd been honest about his reasons for moving. Riku knew that Sora wasn't telling the whole story, but people were aware that his mother was sick, and that he was leaving to be with her. He talked about how he was visiting her in the hospital every day, how exciting it would be to start over with her in a new city. A different life in a different world. At this point, Riku decided that it would be best to, for the time being, avoid other people altogether.

The rest went by in a haze of grey. He went to school, went to practice, came home and repeated the process daily. Axel and Wakka both tried to badger him into telling them what had happened between him and Sora, but Riku didn't feel like talking about it, and not even they could break through the wall of ice that he could put up when he chose to get stubborn about it. He knew that his family attributed his bad mood to the 'no contact' rule that had been put into effect, and Riku was fine with that. It meant that they didn't try to make things better; meant that they left him alone.

He was satisfied to let things continue as they were, falling into his solitude and wrapping it around himself like an old familiar blanket. He felt that he was justified in what he had believed before. He'd been right. There was no point in getting close to others, because in the end, they would leave, and you'd be left alone again. Better to start that way and stay that way. He let the rest of the world continue as it would without him. He honestly didn't care.

There was one thing that managed to break through Riku's cloak of apathy in those days. The Monday after the Wednesday that Sora had found him, Riku had been out of class during third period, heading to the bathroom with a pass. He was walking near C building when he noticed Kida's boyfriend, Milo, going into the room where he knew Sora had class. Life Science. Vexen. He still had Sora's schedule memorize.

There was a blue envelope held in Milo's hand. He noticed this because he remembered thinking that it was strange since there were no candy grams or anything like that being sold at the time. He also remembered a moment later that Milo was an office assistant. It must have been a notice from the office for someone in the class or something like that. The guess was confirmed when Milo exited the room a moment later, no envelop in sight. Riku probably would have forgotten the entire incident if not for what happened next.

Not long after Milo had exited the room, the door swung open again. Riku was startled and, despite himself, a little concerned to see Sora come rushing out, book bag in hand, papers spilling from it in his haste. Sora was moving as fast as he could, heading in the direction of the main office. He was moving towards Riku, and as he came nearer, Riku got a good look at his face. His eyes were wide and panicked, skin gone almost completely gray.

Riku paused, waiting for the moment when Sora would notice him and do the same. The moment never came. Sora never looked up as he ran by, but from his bag fell a single blue envelope with 'To Sora Holani' written across its face. It fluttered to a halt at Riku's feet, the same blue of the envelope that Milo had been carrying before, and Riku knew that whatever was in it had to be the cause of Sora's distress. He hesitated only a moment before bending over to pick it up, eyes following the retreating head of brown spikes as he did.

That was the last time Riku saw Sora at school that year.

-:- -:- -:-

**AN:**

I do not believe I have ever spent so much time revising a chapter as I did with this one. Dude…there is dialogue in this thing that was rewritten about four times before I felt I had it right. I can say, with some degree of certainty, that this story has two chapters left with the potential for an epilogue before it is over. I will be working my keister off to get this puppy done by March 26th when the first chapter was posted two years ago. Momentous, yes, but very nerve-wracking as well. Wish me luck gaiz! I'll need it DX


	21. Ch 18: Left Behind

**Standard Disclaimer:** Disclaimed

**Notes**: I just want you all to know that I almost killed myself to get this chapter done thanks to the madness that is school. Now _that's_ love.

**Warnings**: Gratuitous use of Disney and Square characters, language, at least one homosexual relationship, bigoted ass-holes, semi non-con encounters, made-up culture and language, lots of Blitzball, and general teen awkwardness. Enjoy!

-:-finem-:-

**Life on the Blitz**

**Chapter 18: **

**Left Behind**

The end of the Harvest Festival marked a major shift on the islands in several ways. For the students of Paopuan National, it meant that there were only a few more weeks before the end of the semester and Winter Break. All the time that had once been focused on preparations for the Demonstration was suddenly spent studying for finals and working on papers and projects. The sense of community that had been built over months was put to the test as stress mounted and tempers frayed, and the frantic synergy that had led to one beautiful final product before suddenly seemed only to breed impending doom.

Another shift that followed was the unofficial ending of the fall and coming of winter. This was generally easily recognized as the weather took a rather dramatic shift around that time of year. Blue skies turned grey with clouds and temper. Easy waters became choppy and rough. Needless to say, the islands were far less of a paradise and therefore, less of a tourist draw. Yet another shift that was noted and recognized by the islands' inhabitants.

This particular Friday was a prime example of a winter day on Destiny Island. The sky was overcast, cluttered with clouds, and one look to the horizon made it clear that there would be stormy weather coming soon. The air was sharp and biting, for the islands at least; heavy with moisture despite the chill. A thick fog hung over everything, blurring surroundings and giving the world the feeling of a dream.

This seemed entirely fitting to Sora as he stepped out of Leon's silver SUV. The past week had felt very much like a waking dream. The days had blended together and he wouldn't have been able to say what had happened between Monday and Friday had he been asked. Precious little reached him through the fog in his head. It was only right that on this day, the rest of the world be a reflection of that. Made it all seem a little less real. Breathed plausibility into the fleeting thought that it was all just a dream and he'd be waking at any moment.

Fleeting as it was, that was the only cohesive thought that consistently existed in the fog. His senses still took in information, but somehow, he was no longer able to process it. He registered heat and cold, didn't know how to respond to it. There was nothing accessible in his mind to give him any judgmental abilities at all. He did as he was directed and little else beyond that; couldn't even understand why he was doing as he was told. Didn't think. Only acted. It was better that way. He wasn't sure why, but some part of him knew that it was just better that way.

The room he found himself in had tiled floors and wood paneled walls. There were flowers, colors. He didn't like it. Outside was better. The room fought too strongly with the fog in his head. There was a stranger present, immediately dismissed. Others could deal with the obligatorily solemn woman. He went where he was directed, down a corridor, passed doors that were shut, lamps casting shadows as they moved. The shadows danced in his vision and he liked that. Shadows only danced in dreams.

The shadows were banished, however, when a door was opened leading into a room warmly lit with glowing light. There were more flowers here, there scent cloying in the small space. Sora entered because he was led, a warm hand on his shoulder, squeezing gently. There was a flash of irritation that died quickly, smothered and consumed by the fog and the grey. He saw the wood of the box at the far end of the room and couldn't help but feel…confused. He didn't understand the point. He didn't know why he was there. It made no sense.

There were words exchanged. Speaking. Some of it, he guessed, was directed at him, but he hadn't heard. He was still trying very hard to understand. That hand was there again, guiding him forward, and it was in him to resist this time. He didn't. Resistance would require thought, effort, and he was incapable of either at the moment. He went where he was led.

The face that he peered down upon was alien to him; waxy and distorted, lips forced into a mockery of a smile that only seemed to scorn the living. Part of him knew that there should have been some emotion in response to the moment, but all that surfaced was a bubble of derision and that question again. Why was he there? What was the point? She was gone. Long gone now. Days and days had already passed, yet for some reason, people felt the need to bring him to this place to look at a…husk. That's all it was. Refuse. Leftovers. What was the point of looking at it? Was he supposed to feel something for the thing? Some guilt or sorrow for its fate in the incinerator? And then he would get the ashes. Little pieces of carbon dust to keep or scatter. What was the point? What was the point?

He was outside again and didn't remember getting there. His heart was racing, body shaking, and there was a feeling in his legs like they'd just done something they hadn't expected to be doing.

"Sora!" A familiar voice, and those damn hands again. "Sora, sweetie, are you alright? Of course you're not alright. I don't know why I just said that. C'mon, I'll take you home. I shouldn't have brought you here. I just thought maybe…"

He let the words wash over him, only occasionally attempting to catch their meaning, but mostly not caring. He didn't want to be there anymore. He wanted to go home, and a little piece of something inside of him twisted painfully as he realized that he didn't know where that was anymore. The room he had now was not really his. He was living in borrowed spaced, much like he had been for most of his life. For so long, he'd thought that home was wherever he had to be to stay near his mother, but if that were still the case...

He would not follow that train of thought. Could not even think to follow his mother in death. It would lead to discussions with strangers that he did not want to have.

The only grounding point in Sora's world was Rinoa. He didn't know the details of when she had come or how she had found out. He just knew that she was there. At some point in his waking dream, she had appeared and he was grateful for that much. He still felt like he was drifting, but Rinoa, at least, still made sense. She was the only one who had managed to cut through the haze so far.

He was back in his borrowed room now, sitting on the bed with Rinoa kneeling in front of him. She was talking, but it wasn't making sense. A little more focus. A little more effort and...

"...really starting to worry me. Everyone says that this is just your way of coping, sweetie, but I just...I want to know that you're still in there. I don't want to have to take you to a hospital, Sora, so just...anything. Tell me to leave you alone. Scream at me, just give me some sign that I haven't lost you too, babe."

There was something about what she was saying that nagged at Sora for reasons he couldn't quite get a handle on, but having her there made his mind work in ways it didn't seem to have the capacity for on its own anymore. For example, he noticed that her eyes and nose were red. That meant that she had probably been crying. There were dark circles under her eyes, and she seemed drawn, the spark that usually fueled everything she did almost completely gone.

There was tightening in his chest again, and a distant part of him thought that it might have had something to do with fear. This wasn't the Rinoa he knew. It was like she was a faded version of herself, and in the mind of a fifteen-year-old boy whose entire world had just been destroyed, that was a problem. It felt like he was losing his last refuge in a world that was slowly filling with fog.

His head found her shoulder before he realized that he was going to move, and the speed with which Rinoa's arm snapped around him at the gesture spoke of desperate relief. She was shaking as she held him, and he knew that she was crying again, but that didn't quite connect with anything in him in that moment. He was just glad that she was there and that she was holding him, because she was real. She was there, and her presence alone was the one thing keeping him from giving in to the lure of nothingness and fading into the grey behind his eyes.

-:- -:- -:-

Second to last game of the season and the Blades bombed like never before. It came as no real surprise considering the fact that they had, once again, lost one of their best players and were still breaking the replacement in to the team. This had been a spectacularly craptastic year for JV so far. Coach was pissed, the team's spirits were as low as they had ever been, and…Riku couldn't possible care less. There was a time when he would have been side by side with Wakka trying to cheer the others up, get the team's morale back strong again. But as things were, he didn't even know where Wakka was let alone how he was responding to the teams latest defeat. Riku had retreated to his car as soon as the game was over and was already halfway home. He couldn't be bothered with the drama of high school Blitzball any longer. Probably would have quit the team if that wouldn't have call even more attention to himself than his behavior already warranted.

He took the long way home, meandering down back roads, purposely turning down streets he didn't know just because he could. He let his thoughts wander as he drove hoping that time would be enough to make the tension in his body calm. He couldn't really identify the source and so didn't know how to relieve it. But he felt restless, irrationally angry, and the feeling was doing its best to drive him insane.

The house was empty when he finally arrived, and that suited Riku perfectly. He was getting very used to being alone. He was almost to the point where he didn't even miss the company of his friends all that much; knew that it wouldn't be long before he'd forgotten what companionship was like altogether. That would be good. Hopefully by then he would also learn to ignore the irritating little voice that was trying its best to make him feel bad for doing the things that he'd had to do. It was all for the best, after all. That phrase was steadily becoming his new mantra.

He entered his room and flopped onto his bed, dropping his things from school on the floor along the way. His body was still tense but at the same time, he felt exhausted. It had been a hard game and despite his apathy, he'd still played as best he could, leaving him well and thoroughly worked. He shifted his head, hoping to find a comfortable angle on the softness of the duvet covering his mattress. Reached out to turn on his night light, and as he did, his hand brushed against paper that was sitting on his nightstand instead. His hand froze where it was.

After a moment of thought, he sat up and turned on the lamp rather than the smaller light that he usually used to break up the darkness. This was something he'd been putting off for a while. At first, when he'd picked up the blue envelope, he had some passing thought of giving it to one of Sora's friends and having them give it back to Sora. It was a good enough plan, even if it would involve Riku actually interacting and possible exchanging words with someone. He figured he could wait until he knew that Sora was around and then quickly pass it off to someone from around their tree. Someone he didn't know very well and who wouldn't ask too many questions.

Here is where the plan had stalled. After that moment when Riku had seen him rushing away, Sora had never come back to school. Riku had waited for an opportunity every day, but now it was the end of the week, and still no Sora. It had been two weeks since Sora had been hurt, and he'd been moving around the school just fine, so it couldn't be because of his injuries. Whatever had happened, the explanation was in that envelope. Of this, Riku was certain.

He'd done his best to convince himself that he didn't care. The contents of that note, or letter, or whatever it was, was none of his business. He'd cut himself off from Sora, cut the other boy completely out of his life. He had no reason to stick his nose into whatever was going on. But then there was that voice again; nagging and pestering. Trying to tell him that something was wrong and that he needed to know what it was.

But it really wasn't his place, he told himself. Sora was on the verge of beginning a new life. He had his mother, he had his aunt, he was moving off to start over again. There was no place in that new life for Riku. Even if Sora said that he wanted for them to stay connected, Riku knew that it wouldn't last. He'd just be a remnant from Sora's old life that was probably better left forgotten.

That was what was most painful. He knew that things were about to change for Sora for good, and Riku just couldn't see where he was supposed to fit into that. As things were, he knew where he stood in Sora's life. The absence of mother had been something that had brought them together; gave them a bond of understanding that Riku had never expected to find in another. But now with Sora's mother recovering, that bond was broken. Everything had changed.

Maybe Sora was right. Maybe Riku really was jealous. Maybe he was upset at Sora for having his mother back when there was no way that Riku could ever have the same. Riku couldn't know for sure. There was just too much going on in his head for him to make sense of it, and on top of it all was the pervading guilt over the things he had said the last time he'd spoken to Sora.

Again, his mouth had done all the thinking for him, that is to say none at all. He'd been so completely out of line, he didn't know how he would be able to talk to Sora again even if the opportunity ever did presented itself. Which brought him right back to the original question. Where was Sora? Why had he been missing from school for so long? What could possibly have happened?

The envelope was in his hands with very little thought or effort, and he didn't stop to rethink the decision as he opened it and let his eyes take in the shaky handwriting that moved carefully across the page. _I'm just checking to make sure he's alright,_ he rationalized. _Maybe it's not any of my business anymore, but maybe there is something here that the others need to know._ That's what he told himself as he began to read, and then he stopped trying to rationalize altogether.

_Sora, baby,_

_I want you to know that I'm sorry. I've failed you as a mother in every way, and for that, there are no words that can express my shame enough. I've listened to you these past days, seen how you've grown, and realized what I missed out on. You're not my little boy anymore. You've grown into a beautiful, strong young man, and I am so proud to be your mom. I know that I can take no credit for who you have become. You managed all this time, thinking for yourself, becoming your own person. That's how I know that this is for the best. _

_I know you think you need me, Sora, but you're wrong. You are strong enough to stand on your own, and I would only stand between you and your dreams. I won't ask for your understanding, or your forgiveness. After all the years I left you to cope on your own, I know I don't deserve either. I do want you to know that I'm doing this for you. Because I love you, and I want what's best for you, and I know that I'm not good enough for someone as amazing as you are._

_Mommy loves you, baby. Thank you so much for opening my eyes so that I can do at least this much for you. Live long, and be great. I'll be waiting with your papa to welcome you to join us someday._

_With love from this life to the next,_

_Mommy_

Riku felt his brows crease, face twisting into an expression of confusion. It couldn't mean what he was thinking it meant. He must have been misreading or making assumptions or something… He read through the note once more, and then again, stomach sinking with growing certainty. There was no denying it, no other way to interpret it.

He was reading Sora's mother's suicide note.

-:- -:- -:-

"I'm thinking about quitting the team," Roxas said as he stared into the early evening through the old truck's windshield. The statement was declared blandly. No emotion attached at all, really, and Axel wasn't sure what to make of it.

"That's it?" he asked, looking for some further details on where the words had come from, though he thought he could hazard a guess. "No further explanation? You're just gonna quit?"

"The team is starting to get really lame," Roxas added. "I don't know if it's worth the time and effort anymore. It's just not the same now that Sora's not around."

Bingo. Axel patted himself on the back mentally for an expert display of Roxas-reading before speaking next. "Not worth your time? I thought you were all hot and bothered about the trials in the spring like everyone else."

Roxas shrugged a shoulder, resting his head against the passenger side window as he looked out over the water. They were riding along the highway that skirted the ocean, sunset hidden by dark clouds. The clouds were rimmed with red adding an oddly ominous undercurrent to the moment.

"I don't even know if I'm interested anymore," he sighed.

Axel released a sigh of his own, but it was closer to the side of long suffering as opposed to Roxas' angst. He'd been getting this from everywhere all week, and all for the same reason. Effing Sora Holani. The kid was beating out even the whole Bickson-Anakhuli scandal. Riku refused to speak on the subject of Sora at all and had been doing a damn good job of avoiding Axel's attempts to get through to him. At least half of Axel's other friends asked if he had news on what was up with the kid, and Roxas had been getting moodier and moodier with every passing day that he hadn't heard from his friend.

"They still not letting you talk to him?" Axel asked, knowing that Roxas had been calling over to his guidance councilor's house (how weird was that?) all week trying to get a hold of Sora. So far, all of his efforts had been useless and the lack of response from the passenger's seat told him that nothing had changed on that front.

They rode a while in silence, Roxas focusing out the window, lost in his own thoughts. Axel could tell that his passenger was taken off guard when the truck turned down a patch of gravel that took them off of the main highway and came to a stop.

"C'mon," was all he said as he pulled the key's from the ignition and climbed out of the driver's seat. Axel was pleased to see that it only took Roxas a couple of blinks of confusion before he complied. Axel was already walking away, listening as the other door slammed and footsteps came crunching after him.

"Where are we going?!" Roxas called at his back, struggling to catch up to Axel's longer strides.

"You said you wanted to go someplace private to talk," Axel explained not slowing his pace.

"I meant like a classroom or a restaurant or something! Where the hell are we?!"

Axel only grinned to himself at Roxas' reaction and kept walking. He felt like he'd been patient and understanding enough with Roxas so far; had giving him his space to let him figure out his own head. Axel didn't think it made him a bad person to make Roxas do a little scrambling now that he was ready to talk. It was all just a part of the game, and only fair.

"Dammit, Axel!"

That sent Axel picking up his pace a little to a light jog, crunching through gravel as it transitioned to sand. It took only a moment for him to hear Roxas' sneakers slapping against the pebbles in pursuit at a much higher speed than Axel's lazy gait. Sounded like someone was getting a little upset. Axel was half-way expecting it when he felt Roxas grab his shirt from behind, so, naturally, he was prepared for it and spun around, grabbing Roxas' shoulders as he threw his weight to the side and brought both of them crashing down into the sand.

"What the hell is your problem!?" Roxas exploded, struggling to get untangled from the knot of limbs they had become. Axel laughed out loud at this, tightening his arms and legs so that Roxas had to fight twice as hard to escape. "Can't you take anything seriously?! I said I wanted to talk, not take a trip out to god knows where to play in the sand!"

"I brought you here because I wanted to show you something," Axel told him once he'd brought his laughter under control. "You really need to lighten up, Rox. You're way too young to be getting all bent out of shape all the time like you do."

"You're only a year and a half older than me, asshole," Roxas groused in reply and Axel could only almost make out the petulant look on his face in the darkness. "Stop acting like you're so much wiser and experience or something."

"Oh, but I am, Roxy. Didn't you figure that out yet? It's not age that decides that. It's just the virtue of me being me. The natural order of things. Axel knows all and everyone else can only dream of being so awesome."

Axel wasn't expecting the elbow that landed in his gut at the comment, though he probably should have been. Roxas usually didn't let him get away with stuff like that. It was more surprising than painful, but the surprise was enough to have him loosen his arms and legs and give Roxas the opportunity to escape.

"Oh, sorry about that," the blond cooed mockingly, a dark silhouette against a dark background. "I thought you would have known that was coming and stopped me, you being so all-knowing and everything."

Axel breathed a small laugh, straightening himself and rising from the sand. "Maybe I just let you get away," he drawled stepping towards Roxas and gaining some details in his features at the closer proximity.

"Or maybe I'm the one who let you catch me to begin with."

The double meaning was not lost on the redhead, but before he could respond to it, Roxas had turned and was running towards the water.

"Oh, hell no, Roxas!" Axel called over the roar of the waves, following Roxas's retreating figure with his eyes a moment before sprinting after him in an attempt to catch up before he got to where he was going. It was far from the warm season when it would be perfectly ok to take a dip in the ocean in the middle of the night. The air outside was already pretty cold, and there was just _NO WAY_ that Axel was getting wet on top of that...he didn't take so well to chilly weather.

He caught up with Roxas just as the sand was getting a bit firmer underfoot from the water. He grinned. noticing the trail of stars in the other boy's wake, pleased to know that the beach was working with him tonight. Another two strides and he was right on Roxa's back, taking him down into the sand for the second time that night. The landing was a bit harder on the more compacted sand, but Axel knew that the sparks he saw out the corner of his eye had nothing to do with the impact.

"What was that?" Roxas asked, freezing where he was and sounding a little freaked out. Axel couldn't help but laugh at him. He was glad that Roxas had such sharp eyes. Took care of the awkward details of how the big reveal was supposed to happen.

"I told you. I wanted to show you something." It was said casually, carelessly, and that was enough to turn Roxas' confusion to mildly dubious curiosity. Axel could tell in the next question asked.

"You seriously expect me to believe that _you_ did that?"

"Didn't I just say that I was awesome?" Axel offered as he helped Roxas up from the ground. "Look." He directed Roxas' gaze down to his feet then took a couple of steps back. Where he stepped, ripples of light expanded out a few inches before vanishing, and his footprints seemed to sparkle in the sand before they faded away.

"How are you doing that?" Roxas asked, sounding awed and confused and like he didn't quite believe what he was seeing.

"Magic." Axel launched himself upwards and landed. Hard. A ripple of light expanded out a couple of feet from where he'd touched down, and he left two shimmering footprints when he stepped away to observe his work.

"You're doing it, too," he pointed out casually, and this caused Roxas to look down at his own feet. He gave a few experimental taps with his sneaker, giving a 'whoa' of awe when he saw the tiny sparkles form around his foot. He tapped his foot harder, gaining confidence. Dragged it through the sand leaving a dim trail of light it its wake.

"This is crazy," he breathed, stomping across the ground and watching as the sand shimmered with every step. Axel watched him fondly, remembering the first time he'd been brought to this beach. There had been more kids around at the time, but they'd all responded in much the same way.

"This is one of the beaches where we come camping for Culture School," he explained hopping around in the dark. "Do you know the Paopuan story about the birth of night?"

Roxas grunted an affirmative, jumping so that he landed in front of Axel and looked up at him. Axel looked down at him in turn, the ambient light of the beach reveling a glow of something in the smaller boy's eyes that Axel had never seen before. It was like a mask had been dropped; some barrier that Roxas usually kept up removed as he allowed himself to take the moment in for all that it was. That look make something in Axel's gut squirm, but not in a bad way. No, Axel thought he rather liked the feeling…could definitely get used to it.

"This is supposed to be one of the places where the tears of the Light god gather," he said in a hushed voice, straining his eyes to see as much as he could of Roxas' face as he spoke. "'In the sacred places, the water is alive with the Light of Ho'kuo'lani.' That's what Mowgli says anyway. Science says that it's because of some microorganisms or something, but I think I like Mowgli's version better."

"Didn't know you were into island lore," Roxas said, and there was more of the Roxas Axel was used to in the light tease in his voice.

"Well, I guess that means you don't know everything about me, doesn't it?"

Axel could see that he'd caught Roxas off guard with the comment and took advantage of the moment to guide Roxas further up the beach without resistance. There was a cave in one of the cliff faces where their class camped if the beach was too windy, and that was where Axel decided they would go for their little chat. It only took them a couple of minutes to get there and a few minutes more for Axel to find the driftwood and kindling stored for safe-keeping and start a fire.

As the little log caught and began burning steadily, Axel turned his attention back to Roxas who now seemed to be lost in his own thoughts.

"So," the older boy began, "you wanted to talk. So talk."

Roxas looked up from the fire as if he'd been caught off-guard, but a moment later, his expression grew firm, his resolve clear. "You know what I want to talk to talk about." He said. It was a statement of fact, and Axel nodded, not denying it.

"I have a pretty good idea."

"Alright then. No point in avoiding it anymore. I..." he averted his eyes at this, and Axel was pretty sure that it wasn't just the heat from the fire that was adding color to Roxas' face. "I guess I like you, alright? I guess I kinda knew that for a while." Axel nodded, not giving any outward reaction, but inside he was starting to get a little nervous.

He'd had the situation figured out for a while and was glad to see that Roxas was catching on finally, but that didn't mean that things would work out the way that Axel wanted them to. He wasn't even all that sure how he wanted the situation to work out, even. He just knew that he liked having Roxas with him and thought it would be worth it to see what else they could be. That part would depend entirely on what Roxas said next, though, and Axel wasn't all that confident about where the conversation was about to go.

"Look, I get it, ok?" Roxas continued speaking to the ground just below the fire. "I was scared. Hayner freaked out on me, and I was doing stuff I didn't even know I was doing, and you're a guy, and I'm a guy, and I didn't think I was into that, and I just..." he glanced up at Axel for a moment before dropping his gaze again. "I guess I've just never felt this way about anyone before, and never expected to feel this way about you, and just…didn't really know what to do with it. I wanted things to stay the way they were, but I know that's not even an option. Everything's already changed so much. _I've _changed so much..."

Roxas looked up again, then, but his eyes were not the same. That gleam of resolve was back, and before Axel quite knew what was happening, the blond had closed the small gap of sand that was between them and Roxas was directly in his face. "…and I'm not running away from it anymore." Roxas proceeded to reach up, grab each of Axel's ears in a hand and mash their lips together in the most adorably awkward first kiss that Axel could possible imagine.

He sat still and allowed Roxas to do what he felt he needed to do, and after a few seconds, the blond pulled back, brows creased in confusion.

"You're not doing anything," he observed, face bright red now and ears almost glowing. "Aren't you supposed to be doing something?"

"Oh, I thought you were doing plenty for both of us." Axel made no attempt to hide the teasing in his voice, and he reached out to grab Roxas' hand before the blond could get into one of his pissy moods and ruin the moment.

"Joking, Roxas," he said. "Joking. But that really wasn't much of a kiss."

"Well, excuuuuuse me. Not all of us can be—"

Axel put a finger to Roxas' lips before he could find out what the smaller boy thought he was. "Just calm down a second, would ya?" Axel smiled. "Let me get my piece in." Roxas averted his eyes for a moment, looking appropriately chastised, before turning his gaze back to Axel and nodding his consent.

"Alright. So what I got from that is that you like me, right?" Roxas rolled his eyes and gave Axel a flat look that spoke volumes without him needing to say a word. " I'm just recapping, sheesh! So you like me, which is good because I like you too, Rox. A lot." This caused the blond to look away again, shifting uncomfortably as a funny little smile began tugging at his lips.

"But you've never dated anyone before, right?" Roxas glared at him again. "Dude, I'm just checking. And I'm just saying that this is your first relationship, and my second attempt at one so…like…Let's just make sure we know what's going on before things get out of our control or something."

"Axel," Roxas began, firelight dancing across his cheeks as his lips pulled into a smirk, "are you actually telling me that you want to exercise some kind of restraint?" There was a hint of mocking disbelief in his voice and Axel just grinned at it.

"I've been known to do it every once in a while," he shrugged. "Now relax a second so I can show you how a proper kiss is suppose to go."

Roxas went all wide-eyed and shocked, opening his mouth to say something, a protest of some kind perhaps, but Axel didn't give him the chance. He covered the blond's words with his mouth and offered a kiss that was soft, chaste and full of the tender affection that had grown in his heart over the past several months. Roxas didn't resist after that, just gave in to the soft press of lip on lip. The warm breath that puffed across his skin from Axel's nose, and the warm tingle that filled his chest and made the blood rush in his ears.

His eyes were slightly glazed when Axel pulled back, a breathy "oh" all that he could manage to say, and Axel smiled, already leaning in to continue where they had left off. His effort was interrupted, however, when his pocket began to eagerly vibrate. He yelped, scrambling to pull out the small device and glare at it once it was in hand. He saw the name on the screen and rolled his eyes, hitting the reject button as he shoved the phone back into his pocket.

"Sorry about that. Talk about a mood kill—"

His pocket was vibrating again and he pulled out the phone, even more irritated now as he glared down at the caller ID. He tore the phone open angrily and growled into the receiver.

"You'd better be fucking _dying_ Riku because… What? Yes, he's with me. Wh-- slow the fuck down asshole, I can't understand what you're saying. Riku. RI-KU." Axel listened for a few more seconds before rolling his eyes and snapping the phone shut, looking at Roxas. "We'd better go see what's got his panties in a wad this time. I'd tell him to fuck off if it weren't for the fact that he only gets like this when there's something up with Sora."

"Sora?" Roxas asked, the irritation in his expression vanishing immediately. "I thought they weren't speaking to each other anymore."

"Yeah, well," Axel began pouring sand over the fire to put it out. "Riku's place isn't that far from here. Guess we'll just have to swing by and see what's up."

-:- -:- -:-

It took all of fifteen minutes to get back to the car and drive to Riku's house, and when the youngest Anakhuli answered the door, there were storm clouds in his eyes.

"What the fuck are you doing here?" he snarled.

"See, Rox." Axel drawled easily, well accustomed to Riku's moods. "He totally missed us. What did I tell ya?"

"I told you to take him to go check on Sora," Riku snapped.

"And I told you that I couldn't understand what the fuck you were saying." Axel returned, shoving his way into the house. "You've been avoiding me for two weeks, Riku, and now all of a sudden I'm suppose to jump when you say go. No, asshole. What's going on?"

"It's none of your--"

"It's all of our business!" Axel rounded on Riku glaring daggers in his irritation. "So what the fuck! Give me a reason. If it's so vital then why aren't _you_ going over there? Details, man!"

Riku stood in the doorway face set in an angry mask, but Axel met him head for head. He knew Riku. Could completely see through all of the facades. The other boy acted like a hardass, but it didn't take much to make him crack when he'd done something that he knew was wrong. Guilt was a living and breathing thing in Riku, and Axel could tell that there was something eating at him. He didn't plan on going anywhere before he found out what it was.

"What did you do, Riku?" The question came from Roxas, and maybe it was the firmness of his voice, or the fact that the question was coming from someone Riku wasn't used to dealing with. Whatever the case, it was enough to make the mask slip. For a flash of a second, there was a look of panicked fear in his eyes, even though it was covered up quickly. But, that small break was all that was needed. It was a confirmation for Axel and Riku knew that there was nothing he could do to deny anything anymore.

"Spill," the redhead demanded. Riku averted his eyes then, glaring down at the floor, and Axel knew that he was going to talk.

"I fucked up you guys," he said quietly. "Major. I don't think there's anything I can do to fix this one."

And then, Riku told them what happened. Everything. Starting with the death of Sora's father then moving on to his mother and her condition. He told them about the insurance situation, the business that was going on with Rinoa and her job, down to the part about Sora leaving and the argument that had come of that.

They ended up in his room, Riku showing them the letter and looking at them with eyes that were full of useless hope. He wanted them to see something different in the message; wanted them to tell him that he had just blown the whole thing out of proportion, paced the floor in front of them as they read, waiting anxiously for some alleviation of his fears. Instead, Roxas grabbed the phone off the nightstand without asking if he could use it, and was rushing out of the room as he dialed.

Axel, for his part, just sat and stared.

"What?" Riku snapped, hiding his true feelings behind a mask of irritation as he always did.

"I don't even know what to say to you, man." Axel shook his head. "I mean seriously, Riku. Just when I think you're finally getting your act together, you go and pull this shit. What the fuck, man? Just..."

"Shut up Axel."

"_You're_ telling _me_ to shut up? You just stick your head so far up your ass that you're shitting out your ear, and _you're_ the one telling _me_ to shut up."

Riku had nothing to say to that.

"That's right, dickwad. I hope you realize how seriously you've fucked this up. You were it, man. Even when the kid was pushing Rox away, he was still letting you in. And now, when he needs you the most you've pretty much told him to fuck off. Not good, Riku. I'm not happy. Rox is probably going to be back in here in a second out for your blood, and I don't even want to think about what the rest of Sora's fan club is going to do to you if word of this gets out."

"God, Ax, don't you think I know all of that? I mean, I practically told him that I hoped his mother would kill herself. And now she's apparently done it. Shit man." Riku ran his hands through his hair, pulling at it as he collapsed down onto his bed. "I don't know what to do. I wanna go over there, keep-away order or not, but I'm the last person he's gonna want to see. I wouldn't blame him if he never wants to see me again."

Axel just shook his head at a loss for what else to say.

"You're an idiot," he settled on after a moment. "I'm embarrassed to even know you right now, man. I'm gonna go find Rox and see what the hell is up."

"Don't bother." Roxas was already standing in the doorway, eyes stony and hard set on Riku. "I talked to his aunt again. Told her about the note." He let the words hang in the air for a moment before continuing. "Sora's apparently really messed up. Hasn't even spoken since he found out. The funeral's tomorrow, though, and she said that it might help if we show up to offer him some support."

He stepped into the room then, strode over the carpet to stand directly in front of Riku where he was sitting on his bed. Riku met his glare evenly, waiting for the biting comment he knew was coming. The strength behind the fist that connected with the side of his face was not what he'd been preparing for, and Riku was too shocked to give a proper response beyond falling sideways off his bed and landing painfully on the floor.

"Don't bother showing up," Roxas said in a voice colder than anything Axel had hear from him before. "You're not welcome anywhere near him." And with that, Roxas turned and left the room. Axel looked back at Riku who was still sitting wide-eyed where he'd landed, hand over the already blossoming bruise on his cheek. He sighed and shook his head one last time.

"I'll talk to you later, man," he said. Riku had taken 'fucked up' to a new level with this one, but Axel was still his best friend and he wouldn't abandon him completely. First, however, he needed to go deal with Roxas and the mess of others who were about to get involved in the situation. He made his way down the stairs, following in the heat of Roxas' rage back out into the night.

"Nothing can ever be simple with these people, can it?" he muttered under his breath, hopping into his truck and prepping for the night of chauffeuring ahead.

-:- -:- -:-

In the short fifteen years that Sora had been alive he'd been to one funeral. It had been about six years prior, when his father and the others on the missing tour boat had been officially declared dead. There'd been a group ceremony, pictures of each of the deceased lined up at the front of a section of roped off chairs reserved for the families of those lost. There had been television cameras, and reporters, and strangers everywhere, and Sora just remembered feeling lost. He sat beside his mother, clutching her hand not fully understanding what was happening and why his dad wasn't coming back. There were many who came to pay their respects to his father, but overall, he just remembered feeling so separated from everything that was happening.

This second experience was completely different from the first. There were very few people in the small chapel garden when Sora followed his Aunt in. Leon and Cloud were both at their backs and a distant part of his mind registered that there were others present, but he was too lost in the fog of his head to attempt to identify them. The blankness that he had been experiencing for days now seemed to be beginning to fade. There was something else in his chest now. Something that he still wasn't ready to face, but was not the same nothingness that had been there before. His head was still cottony, but it was a different kind of cottony. It had given him strange dreams and left him alternately sweating and trembling in the night. He knew enough to know that there was something that he should have been mildly worried about in that, but he couldn't think beyond that instinctive knowledge. It was too exhausting, and he was just too tired.

He was settled in a seat in the front row of chairs between Rinoa and Leon, and he sat, and waited, and listened. Island funerals took place outside no matter the weather, and the dark clouds overhead threatened to make the proceedings all the more uncomfortable by choosing to burst and soak them all where they sat. The man who spoke was a stranger. Sora was sure that the man had never met his mother in life before, yet it was so easy for him to stand in front of them and talk about souls moving on and cycles of life and the pain of grief. Meaningless words. How could he possible understand what those left behind were going through? He didn't know the full story. Didn't know what had happened…

He blanked out the rest of the service, focusing instead on the small metal urn that sat beside the framed picture of his mother at the front of the gathering. Others went up to speak, people who had known her from her time in the care center, but even their words were empty. Sora realized that he and Rinoa were the only people in the room who really knew what his mother had been like, and even Rinoa only passingly. His mother had lived so many years blank and empty, and now all that was left were the fading half memories that Sora had from his childhood.

It was in that moment that he understood. _Really_ understood for the first time, now that it was over. He had lost his mother years before, and he'd never even had the chance to get to know her as anything more than a child's view of what she was supposed to be. He couldn't even say that he had known her at all. All these years he'd been holding on to an ideal, a fantasy that he had made up in his head. For all those years he'd basically been living a lie. And here he sat thinking that he was the only person present at her funeral who really knew what she was like. He was still lying to himself. It just wasn't true. If he'd really known who she was, if he'd honestly understood what it was that would make her happy, he would have known that this was how it would end. Maybe there was a part of him that had understood that it was a useless struggle he'd been waging all those years, but he'd just been too stubborn to acknowledge it.

"Sora, c'mon sweetie." He was pulled from his thoughts by Rinoa's hand on his shoulder, encouraging him to rise. It was time for them to go collect the urn and end the service. Typically, this would be the time that the closest relatives would have offered some final words. Something meaningful about the deceased or words of gratitude to those who had come. He was again glad that Rinoa was there. She handled all of the formalities and kept Sora buffered in the safety of his silence.

He expected to fade out again and let the others come around to pay their final respects while he remained blissfully oblivious. Instead he was pulled rather abruptly back into the present when arms wrapped around his neck and he felt a wet cheek pressing against his.

"I'm so sorry, Sora," Kairi whispered into his ear, voice trembling, and Sora could only look at her wide-eyed and dumbfounded when she pulled back to let the next person come up. It was only then that he realized that he recognized most of the faces of the people present…and they were not people who had known his mother. Kairi and her parents were there. Hayner and Tidus were as well. Roxas' entire family was present, Axel's red hair standing out against the blond heads that surrounded him.

For the first time in days, Sora's mind was completely blank as opposed to just foggy. He was too shocked to know what the proper response should be, brain sluggish from lack of use. Then Roxas was standing in front of him, blue eyes boring into his own. There was something like understanding in his gaze…something of an old pain that they now shared. It was a look that Sora didn't like. It spoke of loss and finality and becoming grouped under a label that he had been denying for six years without realizing it. He still wasn't ready to accept it. Didn't know what to do in the face of the reflection of himself he suddenly could see in Roxas. So, he did the only thing he could think to do in that moment. He turned and walked away.

-:- -:- -:-

"You did good inviting them," Cloud observed, and Rinoa looked to him with sad relief in her eyes.

"You think so? I figured it would be the only thing that would bring him out again," she murmured still watching where Sora was speaking quietly with his friends. "If there's one thing I know about my nephew, it's that he will put on a brave face for the public when the need is there."

"And what happens when it's time for them to leave?" Leon asked, eyes also on the small group.

"I guess we'll find out won't we?" she replied, turning to head back into the kitchen. There was enough casserole sitting on the counters to last them for weeks. "We're taking baby steps here. Now that I've got him talking, maybe he'll tell me what he's feeling. Maybe it'll be enough to get his appetite back or help him sleep at night. I don't know what else to do at this point. He's wasting away right in front of us."

"He looks like he might be getting a little feverish," Cloud commented, making room in the freezer for some of the food they were now apparently stockpiling.

"I know." Rinoa busied herself wrapping a dish of lasagna in another layer of foil. "I'm gonna give him some meds as soon as we get some food in him, but I don't want to risk making him sick by giving him cold medicine on an empty stomach."

"And what about you, Rinoa?" This from Leon who was leaning calmly against a counter.

"Me? What about me?"

"Sora's not the only one affected by all of this. How are you holding up?"

This caused Rinoa to pause and look at the brunet man, eyes squinting slightly as if she didn't understand the question.

"I'm not what's important right now, Squall. I've got a fifteen-year-old boy out there whose entire world has just fallen apart, and I'm apparently the only one who can help him piece it back together. He's not even letting himself grieve. Hasn't shed a single tear over his own mother's death. Pardon me if I'm not wallowing in self-pity over the fact that I had to quit my job in order to come here for him. Or that my budget has been screwed to hell and back from all of this traveling. Or the fact that I honestly have no clue what I'm going to do now or how I'm going to make this work out for us." She threw her hands helplessly into the air, wiping away the trail of tears that had begun running down her face midway through her tirade.

"I mean, seriously you guys. I can only focus on one thing at a time right now, and Sora has to be it. I mean…did you know that she sent him a letter?" she asked, remembering the conversation she'd had with Roxas the night before. That information had left her floored. "Told him that she was going to do it and sent it to the _school!_ Who does that? Seriously, that woman!" She seemed to be at a loss for words to express the level of fury she was experiencing, so settled on just shaking her head with an exasperated sigh. "He's been second to everyone for his entire life, you guys. I won't do that to him again. I can do this much for him now. If that's what I have to do, I can at least…"

Leon hushed her as he pulled her into a tight hug, Cloud coming at her back and putting a supportive hand on her shoulder.

"You can't take care of anyone else if you're not taking care of yourself," Cloud told her as Rinoa reigned in her tears.

"I'm sorry, I'm fine. Really I am." She wiped at her face, straightening her dress and sniffling. "I'm just not used to things being this out of my control. I'll figure it out. It's gonna be fine."

"But don't over-extend yourself," Leon admonished. "Yes, Sora needs you, but he needs you whole and well."

Rinoa just smiled, taking each of their hands and squeezing. "Thank you guys," she said, already feeling better just knowing that she wouldn't have to do this alone. Hopefully the worst was over. They just all had to go about the business of moving on.

-:- -:- -:-

Sora hadn't meant to hear the conversation but the sound of his aunt's tears had halted him in his tracks when he'd gone to the kitchen for a bit of space and a drink of water. He was starting to feel dizzy and he was beginning to understand that his body was trying to tell him that he was getting sick. The words that he'd heard Rinoa speak struck a chord in his chest, resonating with the words in the message that he'd all but forgotten about before Rinoa had mentioned it again.

…_I'm doing this for you. Because I love you…_

Why did it feel like love for him only ended up hurting people in the end? His mother was dead now, apparently because she loved him. Rinoa was letting he life fall apart, also because she loved him. Riku…Sora thought that there was something like love in what had been between the two of them and even in that, it had all fallen apart. He'd been hurt and angry with Riku, but now…now it seemed like maybe Riku had nothing to do with it. Maybe he'd been right. In the end, loving Sora meant suffering for him, and Sora was not entirely sure that he was ok with that.

_Sora_

He turned his head sluggishly, glancing around the empty hall in confusion. His head was aching now, a thin sheen of sweat gathering on the surface of his skin causing him to feel odd. He could have sworn that someone had spoken to him just now. The voice seemed familiar but he couldn't quite place it for some reason. Off in the distance, thunder rolled and he walked to his room with the sliding glass doors to look over the ocean. Thick grey clouds had gathered, blocking out the light of day completely and Sora stared, confused, transfixed…

Why had he heard his name in the thunder? Why had it sounded like the voice of his father? And why did it sound like a summons to follow into the storm?

-:- -:- -:-

Riku was not exactly feeing sorry for himself as much as he was just generally feeling sorry. In the short sixteen years that he had been alive, he'd never felt as worthless as he did that day. He sat in his room alone with the curtains closed knowing that somewhere not far away, Sora was paying his final respects to his mother. Others were there for him when it should have been Riku's place, but he'd forfeit that right the moment he'd lashed out with words intent on hurting Sora.

He rubbed his hand over the bruise on his cheek, appreciating the sting and knowing that he deserved so much more. It was amazing how much you could learn about yourself from one little slip. One mistake that was big, but felt relatively minor when initially made. At least in comparison to what it had become.

He still couldn't get his head around it. How could something like this have happened? Why would Rie Holani kill herself? What possible logic could there be in the act when she had a so obviously devoted son waiting for her; believing that she would get well and that they could be a happy family together. How could any mother do that to her own child? He thought back to his own mother's passing. The sadness in her eyes as she began to realized that she wasn't going to get to see her boys grow into men. She'd wanted so desperately to live. He just couldn't understand…

The train of thought was interrupted by the ringing of his phone. The caller ID told him it was Axel and for a moment he entertained the idea of not answering. The last thing he wanted or needed was to get chewed out even more over what an ass he was. It was a passing thought, however. He'd been avoiding his best friend long enough. That was something else he resolved to stop doing.

"Yeah?" he answered dully into the phone, but the question he was asked was the last one he'd been expecting to hear.

"Is Sora with you?" Axel's voice held an edge of tension telling Riku immediately that something was wrong.

"No, he's not." Riku replied plainly, heart in throat.

"Well, fuck." He heard Axel say something to someone else, voice muffled as if he'd covered the mouth piece before coming back to speak to Riku. "I guess that means the kid's missing."

-:- -:- -:-

**A/N:**

Wanted to get it out by the end of February, but…there aren't enough days in that month.

Also, just as a side note thingy, that whole business with the sparklies on the beach is totally a true story. There are these microorganisms that end up in the sand of some beaches that are bioluminescent and light up when you disturb them. Got to go to one of these beaches once. It was really cool.

I'm not sure what's gonna happen with the next (and hopefully last) chapter because school is REALLY nuts right now but…I'm gonna try. We'll see what happens. I'm thinking there will be an epilogue…not counting that in my deadline…


	22. Ch 19: Coming Home

**Standard Disclaimer:** not bothering

**Notes: **So…how's it going? :D I'm not actually late at all you see. According to the Aztec calendar, I've got another like…12 years before my due date…so no one can say anything. _

There's lots to say, but there will be an epilogue so I'll save it for there. Those of your who are still with me, thanks for waiting. Hope this is worth it?

-:-finem-:-

**Life on the Blitz**

**Chapter 19:**

**Coming Home**

It didn't take long for the calls to go out...friends were contacted, questions asked, nerves fraying as the search for Sora began. As word spread, more offers of help came. By midday, there were enough people involved to call it an official search party.

_A bunch of us are meeting up at the school to coordinate better. You comin?_

Riku read the text message again, considering. He wanted to go. Of course he wanted to go. He was as worried about Sora as everyone else. The question was if his presence would be appreciated. If Roxas or Axel had told Sora's aunt or any of the others the truth about why he'd ended his relationship with Sora, they'd all be out for blood. His blood. The last thing he wanted to do was cause a scene that would delay the search.

But he wanted to help. He _needed _to help, and it if meant taking some heat, then so be it. It would be nothing less than he deserved.

The drive to the school was nerve wracking, the sky rumbling ominously as he made his way through the streets. He didn't want to think about the situation. Didn't want to deal with the memories that were surfacing as he thought back to years before when he'd lost his mother as well. He never dreamed that Sora would have to go through that pain. He'd been so sure that everything was finally starting to go right for the other boy. After all of the crap that Sora had been through over the course of the semester, he _deserved _for things to start going right, but somehow, life just wasn't playing fair with him. And Riku, of course, had played his part well in adding to that.

"Why am I such an idiot?" he muttered to himself, pulling into the parking lot behind the locker rooms. He had no problem spotting the small crowd gathered around the front of someone's silver SUV, and made sure to park a good way clear of it. He climbed out of his jeep, quietly making his way to the rest of the group, not exactly sneaking, but also doing his best to not call attention to himself.

Most of the JV Blitz team was there, a couple of the varsity players as well. Axel's bright hair was hard to miss in the gloom, and Roxas and Naminé were both next to him. The other kids from the tree where Sora ate lunch were there too, and Riku flinched when he noticed Kairi's drawn face in the crowd. That was one conversation he was not looking forward to. There were others, as well. Instructors and a few faces that he didn't recognize but guessed were also friends, and Riku couldn't help but smile a little. It was amazing how many people cared enough about Sora to come out and help look for him.

As he got closer, he began to pick up the sound of Rinoa's voice. She was at the center of the group, leaning over a map that was spread across the hood of the SUV.

"We don't have much time before the weather breaks," she was saying, "so make sure you have umbrellas and rain coats with you just in case. I don't want any of you kids getting sick. Does everyone have a cell phone with my number in your group?" There were nods and grunts of confirmation all around. "Then you guys know what to do. Let's move."

Riku froze as he found himself confronted with turning bodies, eyes taking notice of his presence for the first time. He was mildly surprised when most greeted him with supportive smiles and pats on the shoulder, friendly words. Apparently Axel and Roxas had kept quiet about his boneheaded mistake. That was…unexpected.

"God, Riku!"

His heart jumped as he was addressed directly, eyes going to Rinoa who was quickly closing the space between them. There was a look on her face that he could not quite decipher, and he felt his apprehension grow again as she approached.

"Where have you been?!" she demanded. "Out of everyone, you'd probably know best where he might have gone."

He was distracted for a moment by the heat of Roxas' glare as it bore down on him from somewhere beyond Rinoa's right shoulder, but then Axel was there, mussing Riku's hair and speaking up for him.

"Riku had to deal with some stuff with his dad. They've got that whole lawsuit thing looming over their heads, so it's hard for him to break out of his cage right now, yeah Reeks?"

Riku nodded woodenly, going along with Axel's words because he was currently lacking any of his own. It looked like Axel had played the right card. Rinoa's eyes immediately widened with understanding and she looked at him concerned.

"You're not jeopardizing anything by being here, are you?" she asked, and he was reminded, suddenly, of the fact that she worked for people like his father. She actually understood the difficult position Clarence Bickson had put his family in, and somehow, that made him breathe more easily. Helped the situation make a little more sense.

He shook his head in the negative, the fact that he was still supposed to be keeping away from Sora the last thing on his mind at the moment. "I just want to help find him," he told her. And that was the truth.

"Any brainstorms on where he might be?" This from Axel, whose words were accented by a flash of lightning. Riku had one idea, but it was a long shot. He wasn't even really sure why the thought had come to mind. It probably wasn't even worth mentioning.

"Anyone check up on the roof?" he asked instead. Rinoa's head snapped up, examining the building beside them as if she'd be able to catch a silhouette if she looked hard enough.

"Why would he be on the roof?" she asked, a distinct edge in her voice. He didn't like the thoughts that edge implied.

"Not for what you're thinking," Riku told her. "We just ended up there once to talk."

Her eyes met his for a moment, and she nodded. "Alright, then. Check it out. I'm heading back to Way to Dawn to see if he's hiding out there somehow. That's where he'd gone last time he disappeared on me." The last was said with a wry smile. She reached out, then, surprising Riku by pulling him into an unexpected hug. "Thank you for being here," she said softly. "We'll find him, ok?"

She released him just as suddenly, turning and herding Cloud and Leon towards the SUV and Riku was left blinking. The rapid-fire mood shifts were getting to be a bit much…and he sensed another one coming.

"Here comes the fun part," Axel warned, placing a hand on his shoulder and turning him to face the group that was standing at their back. Roxas had moved to join his other friends, and his scowl was as heated as ever, but it wasn't Roxas whose glare was sending shivers of apprehension down Riku's spine this time. Just beyond the blond, standing with Naminé, Selphie, Olette, Hayner, and Pence, was Kairi. The fury emanating from Roxas paled in the presence of the very real pain that he could see in her eyes. The skin on her face was red and blotchy like she'd been crying recently. Riku had to fight very hard not to back away as she moved slowly towards him. Anger he could take, but the betrayal that was shining from her eyes was not something he knew how to handle.

"So I guess this means you guys told Kairi," Riku muttered to Axel while she was still far enough away not to hear him.

"Bright, kid," Axel muttered back. "Good luck." And then Axel walked away to join the others. It was just Riku and Kairi. He found that he couldn't meet her eyes. He just watched her pink galoshes stop in front of him and waited for the tongue lashing he deserved. It never came. She stood there and said nothing. Just waited.

When Riku finally raised his gaze, unable to keep it averted in the silence between them, he wished that he'd just kept looking down. There were tears sliding slowly down her cheeks and she met his gaze without hesitation. He understood that she'd been waiting for him to face her before speaking.

.

"I warned you," was all she said once she had his attention. The words were spoken in a harsh whisper, but there was none of the venom behind them that Riku had been expecting. There was only a deep sorrow, a mourning that was more frightening than any amount of her anger could be.

"I warned you," she said again. But that was it. She just shook her head as she turned from him and walked away.

It was about here that Riku really began paying attention to the mood of the group around him. Kairi walked back to her circle, a brown-haired boy that he'd seen Sora with before wrapping his arms around her in comfort as she slumped against him. There was no mistaking the emotions in the air. With Rinoa's distractingly active presence removed, Riku realized that all of those closest to Sora were sticking together, and there was a certain hopelessness in the way they looked to each other for comfort.

They weren't expecting to find him.

It took a while for that to actually click in his mind because the idea was just... impossible. It had never even occurred to Riku that they wouldn't find Sora whole and as well as could be expected, but the look in Kairi's eyes—the weight of the air surrounding them all—told a different story; caused Riku to look at the situation with new eyes.

He thought back to the conversation he'd had with Kairi weeks before. Her frustration at the way Sora was clinging to a dream that she was sure would never be realized; her conviction that he needed to let go and move on. Getting his mother back had become an obsession for Sora. He'd focused everything in his life on that single goal, had staked his happiness on the idea of having something of his old life back through her. But that dream had died stillborn; had offered a moment when it seemed as though things would go the way they were supposed to, just before everything came crashing down when Sora's guard was at its weakest.

Thinking about it now, looking at the situation from this perspective, Riku fully understood how juvenile his behavior had really been. He should have been happy for Sora, but instead he'd thought only of himself. The few days that Sora had with his mother were probably tainted by Riku's rejection. And then a letter had arrived and shattered the only thing that had been going right. Riku did his best to place himself in Sora's shoes. He thought of the pain of loss he felt when his mother passed, added the other factors on top…and his heart began pounding in his chest.

_I'm afraid this might break him. And you're going to be the one who will have to pick up the pieces._

He was angry now. Angry at himself for failing as a boyfriend and friend in general; angry at the others for giving up on Sora so easily; angry at the weather that was making everything that much more difficult….he was just angry. Didn't even realize he'd been storming towards his car until Axel's hand landed on his shoulder.

"Where are you going?" the redhead asked, stepping in front of Riku and eyeing him with concern.

"Where do you think I'm going?" Riku snapped. "I'm going to find Sora."

Axel took a step back, clearly irritated at Riku's tone. "Ok, let me try this again. _Where_ are you going? If you know somewhere we haven't thought of yet, we need to tell the frantic aunt."

Riku wasn't sure why he hesitated, but there was a part of him that knew that he needed to keep his plans to himself.

"Sora's apartment," he lied. "There was a place around there where he used to go. I'm gonna check it out."

"The why don't you wai—"

"You guys should look on the roof here first. Then you can meet me over there." He didn't give Axel a chance to agree or disagree with the plan, and honestly, he didn't care where his friend's opinion stood on the matter. He was just buying himself time before anyone figured out what he was really up to.

Axel called after him as he jogged to his car, but he was relieved that he heard no crunch of footsteps following after him. He just needed to go. Time was running out. The wind was starting to pick up and the rain would probably start coming down in minutes.

"Riku."

The voice caught him completely off-guard, but his eyes found its source immediately.

"Meg?" The slight female was rising when he spotted her. She had apparently been sitting beside his car waiting for him, and Riku didn't know what to make of that. "I'm kinda in a hurry." He said, eyeing her warily.

"That's fine," she said, stepping out of his way so that he could get to the driver's side door as if to show that she had no plans to stop him. "I know this is a bad time, but it's the first time I've caught you alone, and I really think this is something you should know." She took a breath. Then, "Trav had nothing to do with the shit his father is trying to pull on you. He's seriously pissed, Riku. Pissed enough that I think he might finally be willing to do something about it. I just figured you'd want to know."

Riku stared at her for a moment, the implications of her words not lost on him, but he had more important things to deal with. "Thank you," he told her earnestly, but even as he did, he was climbing into his car, hands moving to start the vehicle without him needing to pay them much thought. Meg only nodded, stepping away when his engine revved, and then she was just a shrinking figure in his rear view mirror.

The roads were mostly clear as he traveled closer to the windward side of the island, rain already pelting his windshield as he drove as quickly as the weather allowed. Every moment he lost was a moment that might keep him from getting to Sora, and that was unacceptable. He drove in silence, too agitated to listen to music. Instead he distracted himself by making a mental list of the supplies he had and the things he would need if he did find Sora.

He was so lost in thought that when his phone rang, it caused him to jump hard enough that he swerved in the road. There was a moment when he thought he might lose control, but his jeep righted itself, and he reached out a slightly shaky hand to answer the phone.

"Where the fuck are you?" It was Axel, and for once he wasn't wasting time or words. Riku knew that this meant Axel and whoever was with him had made it to Sora's apartment and figured out pretty quickly that Riku was nowhere to be found. Riku looked up at the freeway sign he was passing. He had enough of a head start that telling Axel wouldn't risk anything.

"Restoration site," he answered, hoping that it would be enough that Axel would put two and two together. The other end of the line was silent for a moment and then Axel was speaking again and he didn't sound happy at all.

"Tell me you're not thinking about going to that island, Riku."

"He could be out there."

"Riku!" Axel sounded very much pissed now. "Did you miss the part where we're in the middle of a fucking _tropical storm?!_ You can't take a boat out in this! You're gonna get yourself killed!"

"I have to be sure," he replied evenly, refusing to be swayed. He listened as Axel pulled the phone from his head and took a calming breath.

"Wait for help," he said in a much more controlled voice, and Riku knew that he was really worried because he was attempting to reason. "We can get to you in twenty minutes. Don't be stupid, Riku. Even if he is out there, what are you going to be able to do for him by yourself?"

"Ax, we don't have time," he growled out. "You know how long it would take to try and pull together some kind of official rescue." He kept speaking even as Axel tried to interrupt. "All boats are dry docked because of the storm, and even if you could get one on the water, it wouldn't be able to land so it would be pointless. You know I'm right."

There was silence on the other line and he could imagine the look on Axel's face as he struggled to find an approach that would get Riku to see things his way. "I can do this, Ax." He put as much confidence behind the words as he could. "The canoes are made to ride the waves. I've got everything over here that I'll need to camp out for a day or so. Just…" he paused, allowing a little bit of his nerves to sound in his voice. "Tell the others where I'm going. And come looking for us if you don't hear from me soon."

With that he shut his phone, cutting off the conversation before Axel could punch any further holes in his resolve. He was committed, yes, but that didn't make the pouring rain and roaring ocean any less terrifying. He understood the risk of swelling waves and roiling seas. The only thing he had going for him was the fact that the island was close and, it was still bright enough that he would at least be able to see where he was going. He pulled into the small lot in front of the restored villages, parking and breathing and doing his best not to think too far ahead.

He shoved his cell phone into the inner pocket of his jacket where he hoped he'd be able to protect it from the rain. That done, he clambered over his seat, searching for the small emergency kit that his father made sure he kept in his car. It wasn't much, but it at least had basic first aid things: some food, a flashlight, a rain slicker, and a thermal emergency blanket. Considering the fact that he was probably going to get soaked anyway, he decided against wearing the slicker. He did however remove the package, pulled out his phone again and placed it into the little kit. The box was definitely more water resistant than his jacket.

He was drenched the moment he stepped out of his car. The rain was far more intense on this side of the island, already falling in sheets, pooling on the ground and splashing back up, soaking him from all directions. He took the path through the woods to get to the side of the complex where his class stored materials, the boat house where their camping supplies were kept. Everyone who attended culture school was required to have their supplies restocked at the end of each class so that they would be ready for the following week. For once, Riku was glad that Mowgli was so anal about that part. It meant that he had a protected bundle of survival gear waiting for him already.

Axel was probably right to be nervous about Riku heading into the storm, but Riku had thought through his plan. It was risky, but not impossible, and that was good enough for him. He checked the materials in his roll, finding space for the small emergency kit as he did, then strapped it closed again. As an extra precaution, he pulled the plastic rain slicker pack from his pocket, opened it, and tied it around the roll, leaving only the shoulder and waste straps free. There were life vests in the boathouse, and he grabbed one and strapped it on for good measure. Then he tied the pack to his body as tightly as his strength would allow, used a spare piece of string to tie his hair back, and there was nothing left to do but grab a canoe and head out.

Looking over the waves and the water he paused. Now that the time had come to act, the task seemed so much more daunting. The sea was angry, water furiously frothing and roiling as wind blew over its surface. Riku had done this before—wave riding was one of the things they covered in Culture School—but never in weather so fierce. There had always been strict supervision, always that safety net that let them know that if something went wrong, someone would be there to help almost immediately. That was gone now. If he screwed up, it could very easily cost him his life.

_But Sora might be out there…_

Before he could think on it too long, Riku ran over to grab one of the small two-man canoes they used in class and dragged it towards the water. He had to do this. He had to make sure. And if he made it to the island and found that Sora wasn't there, all the better. He'd just wait out the storm someplace safe and hopefully, by the time he got back, Sora would have been found and things could start calming down again. But he had to be sure. He couldn't leave Sora out there alone if there was any chance that he was on that island.

The flawed logic of his plan became immediately apparent the moment Riku set off into the waves and began fighting the currents. It was like arm-wrestling an angry bull. Every stroke of his oar was nothing against the raw power of the open sea. The short distance to the smaller island was suddenly leagues greater, and as the first wave broke over his head and he lost his way for a moment, Riku felt his gut drop out and land somewhere in the water beneath him. He would get lost out here. Daylight was useless when rain and the stinging splashback were blowing directly into his eyes and waves were tossing him around like he was nothing. He'd see the island as he rose on the crest of one wave before it would vanish as another crashed over him.

It was obvious after not very long that confidence alone wasn't enough to get him to the island. He hadn't counted on just how formidable a hindrance the wind and the rain would be. The world had become a blur of gray, his destination lost in it. He had no clue where he was going.

He did his best to control his fear, lifting a hand to wipe at his eyes, but it was no good. He could see water and nothing else. Maybe he'd gotten turned around somehow?

Riku twisted at the waist, trying to see behind him, and it was then that he noticed the swell that was heading his way. He could only watch as the water grew beneath him, lifting his tiny boat higher and higher until the wave crested sending Riku, his canoe, and the bundle of survival equipment still strapped to his back tumbling into the sea.

That was it. He was lost. His boat was gone and he had no way of getting back to it. He was completely at the mercy of the currents now. The life jacket kept him afloat, but there was still rain pouring from the sky and waves were continually crashing over his head. He could barely get in a full breath of air, often inhaling salt water instead and choking on it. He thought to swim, but he didn't know _where_ to swim. What if he chose a direction that only took him further from land? What if the island was close to where he was and he just couldn't see it? He didn't know what to do; felt panic and seawater clog his throat as he flailed about helplessly.

Then the water changed. The waves were smaller, the water smoother, and he could feel the pull of it. He wasn't being tossed around like a rag-doll anymore. Now he was moving in a single direction, being dragged along a current that was stronger than the crashing waves around him. He tried. Panic had taken over and he swam desperately trying to fight what was happening. _Riptide_ some distant part of his mind whispered, and along with it came all of the stories of the hundreds of tourists who were lost to the undertow time and time again during storm season. He was being dragged out to the open seas, and likely to his death, and there was nothing he could do to stop it.

-:- -:- -:-

Roxas didn't like storms. Understandable, considering the long-term affects one storm had on his life years before. They always left him with a sense that something bad was going to happen. There was always lingering dread, certainty of impeding loss. Winds blew, rain fell, thunder rolled, and Roxas waited to find out how his life would be devastated this time.

His fears were usually groundless. The storm would pass with nothing more life altering than a few puddles on the way to school, but this time was different. This time was bad, and all he could do was pace the wooden floors of the hut where they all were waiting, as if pacing alone could bring both Riku and Sora safely out of the storm. Between Kairi's response to Sora going missing and Axel's response to Riku going after him, Roxas was sure that he would never see either of them ever again.

"Rox, sit down. You're freakin' me out." A lanky arm snaked out to grab his wrist as Roxas passed Axel for the maybe seventieth time in the quarter hour since they'd gotten to the restoration site. After a few calls had been made, everyone agreed that the Paopuan village would be the best location to wait out the storm until they could get a boat on the water to get to Riku and Sora as quickly as possible. Axel had called Mowgli to get the main building opened for them, and now Mowgli, Rinoa, Cloud, Leon, and Ansem had gone off to some other part of the complex leaving Axel, Roxas, Kairi, and Naminé anxiously waiting for the adults to figure out what they were supposed to do next.

"I don't feel like sitting down," Roxas told Axel plainly, shaking off the hand and continuing on his circuit. Moving was good. If he stopped moving he'd have to be still, and stillness led to thinking and there were just too many things that he didn't want to think about at the moment. He knew that Kairi was there watching, knew that Naminé was worried, but none of that mattered. He was stuck, nothing he could do to help the situation, and moving helped. At least in that he had some kind of control.

He heard the footfalls following him two turns after Axel had tried to get him to stop. He wasn't shocked when he felt a hand guiding him off the path he'd worn into the floor and towards a corner of the room further away from his sister and Kairi. Then he was being turned by the shoulders, hot hands finding his face.

"Roxas, you need to calm down," Axel said. The words made sense, but it really wasn't that easy. It wasn't just the situation with Riku and Sora that was bothering him. This was beginning to feel too familiar, calling up memories; old memories that were more feeling than image and all the more terrifying because of it. Axel was studying his face intently, but Roxas refused to meet his eyes. There was something threatening to take over in his chest, and he couldn't let that happen. He had to keep it together.

"Look at me." Roxas shook his head, reaching up to pull Axel's hands away, but Axel wasn't letting him off so easily. "Look at me," he repeated, and Roxas sighed. He set his jaw and looked up into the open concern in Axel's expression.

"What's going on, Rox? Talk to me."

Roxas had to swallow back something large and alien that was trying to escape his throat, but he was proud of himself when he found the voice to answer. "I can't handle this waiting," he said. "It's too much like before."

And he was glad that Axel seemed to get it. It had been forever ago when he'd told his story. They'd been waiting then too, but under very different circumstances. He wasn't even resentful of the almost gentle way that Axel pulled him into an embrace, offering comfort that Roxas would never admit to needing. There was a moment of relief, the something in his chest calming in the warmth of Axel's arms. But then the door to the room came flying open, slamming against the wall with enough force to shake the entire structure.

Two figures stormed into the room, each draped in hooded black rain slickers, dripping trails of water as they came. Loz was the first to pull off his hood, eyes searching the room and landing on the corner where Axel and Roxas stood.

"You," he growled stalking towards them, eyes zeroing in on Axel and he moved. "We trusted you to look out for him, Axel. If anything happens to Riku—"

"Threatening Axel is not going to help your brother, Loz." Roxas looked up to see a third figure stepping into the room. Sephiroth seemed to fill the entire doorway as he pulled the hood from his head, his expression betraying nothing of his feelings, any concern for Riku's wellbeing hidden behind a stony mask. He coolly stared his oldest son down and turned his gaze when the other adults in the building returned to the front room.

"What in the world was—," Rinoa hurried into the room, cutting herself off as she took in the scene. "Sephiroth, good." She made her way over to the taller man, briskly speaking as she did. "We just got off the radio with the coast guard. They're not sending out a boat, but they have one on stand-by for as soon as the weather calms. I don't know if you have any other connections that could do any better?"

"Of course." It was Yazoo who spoke up this time. "We have jet skis, and we're both prepared to—,"

"To what?" Mowgli interrupted. "Go out there and get yourselves lost or worse? Don't be idiots."

Loz nearly snarled as he rounded on the man. "You're the idiot if you think we're just going to sit here and do nothing while our brother is out in _that._" He gestured emphatically to the wind and rain that was visible through the still open door.

"You won't be helping anyone if you go out there and get lost yourselves!" Mowgli pressed. "Riku would not thank you to…"

Roxas was distracted from the heated discussion by the sound of Axel's phone ringing. It was clear that no one else had noticed, the two of them still far enough away from the others that the ringing wouldn't be heard. Axel slipped his hand into his pocket pulling the small device out and reading the caller ID. He almost ripped the thing in half flipping it open.

"Riku?!" There was no way that the others could miss that, the name intentionally spoken loud enough to get the entire room's attention.

"What the fuck, man? You had us all scared shitless!" Axel was moving along the wall away from the bodies that were quickly closing in on him. Loz and Yazoo both were glowering, and Rinoa for the first time that Roxas could remember, actually looked anxious.

"Speak up, I can barely hear you," Axel shouted into his phone. "Oh, right. Guess we forgot to mention that. How bad is he?" He made a series of hums and grunts, nodding and deftly dodging all attempts by Loz to snatch the phone from him. "Alright man, I'll pass the word. Take care of the both of you."

He allowed Loz to snatch the phone then, but it was clear from the sour look on the older male's face that Riku was no longer on the other line.

"He made it," Axel said, smiling and addressing the rest of the room. "He's taking Sora to a safe place and they're going to wait the storm out on the island."

-:- -:- -:-

Riku didn't believe in divine intervention. His faith in any kind of higher power had pretty much died with his mother, but he was finding it difficult to put together any other explanation for the circumstances surrounding his current situation. He was safe. He'd found the island and still didn't understand how it had happened.

It should have been the end, he should have been lost at sea for good, but the tide that had been pulling him had stopped at some point. He ended up in a pool of calmer water, strange in the midst of the chaos around him. He was able to swim again, turned himself around, and when he did, he stared in shock. There was a line of almost still water leading straight to shore. From where he was wading, he could clearly see his destination. At that point he would not have been surprised if beams of light descended from the heavens to a chorus of angels.

He found that he couldn't swim straight down the channel of water, the current still pushing out to sea. He could, however, swim beside the channel. The waves and the rain and the wind were still working against him, but he had a direction now. That alone was miraculous. Between that and the added buoyancy of the life vest, it was relatively simple to stay afloat and head towards the island. He swam for what felt like hours, blinded by the water that was flying in his face, but finally, his fingers touched sand. His knees scraped against solid land and he filled his palms with it, clawing his way to the beach, coughing and, gagging, and wheezing, but still thankfully breathing.

He'd made his way to the tree line—which offered at least a little shelter from the storm—to take stock of himself. He was tired and more than a bit waterlogged, but otherwise uninjured. The pack of supplies was still strapped to his back. The only thing lost was the string that had been holding back his hair. It was a miracle. That was the only explanation for it. Somebody up there was looking out for him.

Never one to question fate or fortune, he took a bit of time to rest. He untied the straps to his pack with some difficulty and stripped off the life-vest as he looked around to see if he could figure out where on the island he was. He and Sora had walked the circumference of the thing almost, so it didn't take him long to orient himself to where the little Paopu island would be. He grabbed his pack and slung it over his shoulder as he headed out.

With the way the storm was raging, he wasn't really shocked when he didn't see Sora straddling the trunk of the tree as he had imagine it. But he was nervous as he made his way to the rickety old shack near the shore. He could hear the thing groaning even over the roar of the ocean, waves slapping against the side of the structure as the tide had been pushed much high than usual. Riku had to wade to get to the door, water already flooding half of the place as he struggled his way in. He was terrified that the place would come down on him with every crashing wave.

The storm sounded even louder from inside, the groaning of the shack more ominous. That pretty much settled it in his mind that the old little building would no longer exist by the end of the storm. As his eyes adjusted to the dim light that was filtering through the cracks in the planks that made up the roof and walls, some of the tension drained from him. In the far corner of the room, farthest away from the side that the waves were attacking and out of the water that covered the floor, he could just make out a huddled figure.

"Sora," Riku breathed splashing his way to the corner to grab Sora's shoulders. "Thank God!" He blinked confused when he got no response from the other boy. He shook him slightly, thinking that maybe he was asleep. The only response was a low groan.

"Sora?" he called, again, running fingers gently through sodden hair only to jerk his hand back in surprise at the heat radiating from the scalp beneath it. Ok, this was new. Apparently Sora was sick. He jumped as a particularly vicious wave struck the shack, filling the interior with a deafening roar. It served to remind him that they needed to get out of there before they both ended up crushed under storm-ravaged wood. He didn't come all this way just to find Sora and die beside him.

It occurred to him then that he was indeed alive and well for the moment, and that he should probably let the people back home, who probably thought he and Sora were both dead by now, know that they were actually ok. He still had his phone and hopefully it had survived his little adventure at sea. He wanted to head for that cave they'd found before, but the chances of a signal getting trough the rock was slim so he'd have to make the call before they relocated. He didn't waste much time thinking about it. Unbundled his things and dug his cell out of the emergency kit, pressed the call button for the last person he'd spoken with even as he hurried to bundle his things back up. Axel didn't leave him waiting.

It took less than a minute for him to let his friend know that he'd found Sora, they both were safe, and that he knew of a safe place where they could wait out the storm. He also let him know that his phone would be out of service for the duration so that they wouldn't worry if they couldn't get through to him. After that, it was a matter of strapping their supplies onto his back again and getting Sora from where he was to the cave. He shot a nervous glance around the shack as it continued to groan and shudder against the wind and water. He had to move quickly…or at least he really wanted to move quickly. There was no telling how long it would be before the place came down around their ears.

This time, when he went to Sora's side, he shook with a little more force. He'd carry Sora if he had to, but the process would be a lot easier with the other boy's attention and assistance. He received a groggy moan in response.

"Sora!" he called urgently. "Come on, Sora. I need you to wake up!" This time he got a bit of movement for his trouble. Just a slight roll of the head, but it was something. "Alright, I'm gonna help you up. See if you can walk." He had no idea if he was actually getting through, but he still had to try. In one swift motion, he'd draped one of Sora's arms around his neck and then moved his arm around Sora's back to help him up. At first there was nothing but dead weight, but after a moment, the load lightened and he knew that Sora was at least partially awake.

"Good! Good." This was encouraging. "Now we have to move."

It took longer for them to get to the safety of the hidden cave than Riku would have liked, but they got there. That's all that mattered in the end. He settled Sora against a rock wall, using the limited light that came in from holes in the top of the cave to check the area. The cave provided protection from the storm for the most part, but it was not completely unaffected. It was cold and dank inside; not exactly the best conditions in which to treat a feverish patient. Or, maybe it was a good thing? Would the cold help keep Sora's temperature down? Riku really wasn't sure what you were supposed to do with someone suffering from a fever aside from the herbal things they learned about in Paopu School. He knew that he'd be able to find the plants he needed out in the forest, but that meant he would have to go back out…

Sighing in resignation, he turned to his roll of survival gear. He'd at least see if there was anything he could used to make Sora a bit more comfortable before he set back out.

-:- -:- -:-

Sora woke to…warmth. This seemed strange for some reason, though he couldn't quite put his finger on why. Had something to do with where he'd fallen asleep, and waves and water and voices on the wind. The memories were fragmented, scattered across the fabric of his mind so that nothing quite made sense. But still, he was warm. That was good. He knew that much at least.

His other senses woke slowly so that he fully processed each as it fell upon him. A strange crackling someplace close. The heavy scent of smoke and wet fur in the air. The taste of something bitter and sharp at the back of his throat. He didn't like that; swallowed instinctively against it. Then he felt something shifting beside him and some of the warm went away. He didn't like this either and he heard himself groan in protest even as his body shifted to get some of the warmth back.

"Hey, it's alright, I'm just trying to get you some water."

Sora's eyes snapped open, senses clicking and converging on the sound of that voice. He was left reeling for a moment, but it took no more than that for him to understand. No he wasn't dreaming, no it wasn't his imagination. That had been Riku. There he was, reaching behind Sora for something and a few seconds later, there was a shell floating in front of his face. Sora just looked at it in confusion.

"You need to drink something, Sora," Riku explained. "Here." He offered the shell again and this time Sora understood that there was water in the little scoop. He shifted, groaning low in his throat and coughing a little before getting into a position that would allow him to drink without choking. The moisture worked wonders on a throat that he hadn't even realized was dry, and he took several more shell-fuls from the little pot of water Riku was dipping from before he felt that he could speak.

"What are you doing here?" he asked, settling back down, tired from the small exertion. In doing this he noticed that he was stripped down to his underwear. Riku lay beside him, propped up on one elbow, in much the same state. He also realized that "here" appeared to be a cave somewhere. Definitely not Leon's, but definitely out of the storm. Thunder shook the air masking the sound of Riku's snorted laugh, but Sora still saw it.

"Hey, that's my line," he returned. "You've got half the island looking for you after your little disappearing act, y'know? What were you thinking!? You could've gotten yourself killed! If I hadn't come for you that shack probably would have crushed you before the storm was over!"

Sora heard the words, understood the concern that was behind them, but they didn't reach him. His thoughts drifted, wandering back to the last things he remembered. Riku was still speaking, but Sora wasn't listening anymore.

"I thought I heard my father," he said. Riku's stream of words stopped short and Sora felt the confusion radiating from the other. "I followed his voice to here just before the storm broke," he continued, doing his best to work out what had happened for himself. "But that's crazy isn't it? He's dead. Dead like my mother, but I kept coming. I thought maybe they were calling me to go be with them. I thought they were calling me home…"

"Sora?" Blue eyes shot up to lock with turquoise, that unusual color startlingly clear in the glow of the fire beside them. Sora had practically forgotten that Riku was even there. Riku…

"You were right," he said, because it was the truth. Sora had been blind to it before, but now, with the wind speaking through the holes in the rocks, and the ebb and flow of waves and water pounding the shores just beyond their sanctuary, he knew. Maybe he'd always known. He looked up at Riku as if seeing him for the first time. "You were right about everything. Even now, even when it was just my imagination, it's like they're playing with me. Leading me here and then abandoning me to the storm. Maybe they were trying to tell me something. Maybe I really would be better off—"

"Don't."

Sora found a hand covering his mouth. It smelled like the bitter thing that he'd swallowed down before.

"Don't even think about finishing that sentence." Riku didn't sound happy. He didn't look it, either, once Sora took time to notice. "Sora. No. Just…" he shook his head and let his hand drop from Sora's mouth. The brunet watched his friend blankly, waiting to hear what he'd have to say.

"I know it hurts, ok? I know." Riku shifted and sat up fully, apparently too agitated to remain reclined. A rush of cool air hit Sora, but the heat from the fire tempered the chill almost immediately. The cave was actually quite warm, a large pile of wood stacked against one wall, their clothes trying on a make-shift rack near-by. Sora observed all of this in the silence that followed Riku's words, and shifted himself into a sitting position as well, watching Riku. Waiting for him to come to a decision about whatever he was struggling with. The words came slowly and with great hesitance, and part of Sora understood that Riku was about to tell him something that he'd never shared with anyone before.

"When my mom died I thought that was it. I thought my life was over, I thought I'd never be happy again. I mean, how could I, knowing that she wouldn't be there anymore? I loved her _so_ much. Yeah, I was just a kid, but I understood what was happening. I would never see her again, and I didn't want to keep going without her there. I didn't want to grow up without my mom. I didn't know what I was supposed to do, how I was supposed to keep going." He sniffed, wiping his nose with his wrist, tears sparkling in his eyes.

"But then I realized that there was more for me," he continued, turning to look at Sora. "That I was forgetting about everyone else who cared about me and were going through the same pain, and I know that you don't have the same kind of family that I do, but that doesn't mean that you don't have a family.

"God, Sora. You should have seen. You should have seen how many people came out to look for you when you disappeared. I swear half the school was there. Kids and their parents all worried about you. And your Aunt Rinoa, and Cloud, and Leon. And Roxas. Shit Sora, he's like your brother. I thought he was going to skin me alive when he found out what I did; how I broke up with you." Riku was getting more and more animated as he kept talking, probably to counter the complete blankness that Sora was offering in response, and only seemed to be picking up steam as he pressed on.

"I told him everything, y'know? I told him because I knew that he would be angry for you. I knew that he would give me the treatment that I deserved because it was wrong of me to say those things to you, Sora. You deserved better that and I need you to know how sorry I am. I was an asshole when you needed me to actually grow up for a change and I couldn't.

"I guess I was just scared. It was like you were abandoning me, like you were about the get the life that I never got to have. My mom, she was so sick y'know? I didn't even really understand what cancer meant, not until I had to watch her fade right in front of my eyes. And she tried. I mean, she tried so hard to be strong, but in the end… I was the one who found her. She'd slipped in the bathroom. Cut her head. There was so much blood… All I can remember is crying. Crying and crying and being with her in an ambulance with my father. She told me that she would always be with me. A day later she was gone. I'd believed her and she left me and after that I…"

Sora couldn't help it. He snorted. He hadn't even known that it was going to happen, but with that one burst of sound, he found that he couldn't stop. Snorts became chuckles which evolved to bitter laughter. There was a part of him that knew it was inappropriate, but he didn't care. It was funny somehow. In some twisted way, he couldn't help but be amused. Riku was getting angry. Sora could tell by the way his nostrils were flaring; the narrowing of his eyes, but somehow that made everything even more hilarious.

"You're guilty," stated plainly once the laughter died, and it did so abruptly. There was suddenly nothing funny about the situation at all. "Guilt. That's why you really came. You dragged yourself out here looking for forgiveness." A humorless smile tugged at his lips as he turned his eyes to the fire, studying the dancing flames. It made him think of the Demonstration, the Dance. It all seemed so long ago. He couldn't even name the two boys from his memory anymore.

"So that's what this is really about," he mused, blank as he had been since the conversation had begun. "I was wondering. I mean, I couldn't figure out why you would even bother, Riku, but I get it now. You're feeling guilty. You're looking for forgiveness and I'm the only one who can give it." He nodded. The logic was sound. That was typical Riku. After their rather messy separation, Sora had taken some time to think about the things that Riku had said and he'd come to some conclusions. Riku had been right about some of the things, but that didn't mean that he was forgiven, and now that Sora was thinking about it again, fresh hurt and fresh anger began bubbling to the surface.

"Fine. You're forgiven," he spat, glaring up at the other boy's face. "You can get back to your life now, guilt free. But of course that wouldn't be good enough for you would it, Riku? You've always gotta be the hero. Always gotta be the martyr." He scoffed. "I wonder what the others are saying about you right now. Bet they think you're awesome for fetching the crazy kid out of the storm, huh? Maybe you're hoping that your mom is smiling down on you from somewhere right now, so proud of the good boy her little Riku has become."

That did it. He could see Riku go red in the face, watched his chest puff out in indignant rage, mouth opening to deliver a stinging retort.

"It always has to be about you, doesn't it?" Sora beat him to the mark, and Riku was left gaping, thrown off stride by the question and the genuine hurt behind it.

"Of all times for you to tell me what happened with your mother, you chose now?!" He couldn't tell what he was feeling anymore. "My mother's ashes haven't even cooled and you're trying to help me understand why you've been such an asshole to me?!" There was anger, yes. Frustration, but there was something else. Something suffocating him as it squeezed in his chest. "You can't even let me mourn my own mother without dragging your own sob story into it?! WHY!?" The outburst sparked a coughing fit and Sora tried to fight it back as tears stung his eyes. He turned his back on Riku, rubbing at his face with the back of his arm.

"Why are your feelings the only ones that matter?" he asked the room quietly, echoes of rain his only response. "What more do you want from me? Am I just not supposed to feel anything? Am I supposed to be strong enough for both of us even now? Is that what you want?" Tears were flowing freely and the pressure in his chest grew. "Well, I'm sorry. I'm only one person. And I may have had to grow up way fast, but I'm still just a kid." It felt like he couldn't breathe. "And I hate that things didn't work out the way that you wanted them to, and I hate that you lost someone that you loved so much, but that doesn't meant that you can just forget me." He gasped, an ugly sound around the tightness in his throat, trying to get enough air to keep talking. "Doesn't mean that you can just pretend that I don't exist, because I'm still here! Why can't that be enough!?" He felt a shot of anger that came and left so quickly his body jerked. He was left empty and shaking, but the question lingered. The same question, but different now.

"Why wasn't it enough?"

Arms pulled at him from behind and Sora found that the gasps were more like sobs, and the tightness in his chest lessened in the arms of another, and the anger that he was trying to direct at Riku was in reality, meant for another.

"I gave up so much to stay with her." The words hurt as they came out, tearing at his insides as if even thinking them was a betrayal. "I waited for her. I waited for so long, but it never mattered. _I_ never mattered. I wasn't enough."

He'd never spoken the words out loud, and he was shocked at how damning they were. There was part of him that had always known but had denied it. Hope had always beaten it down, but now with so final an end, he couldn't deny it any more and all the hurt and bitterness flowed out of him along with his tears.

"_She never loved me!"_

"_She did, Sora, she was just sick."_

"…_damn plastic bag over her head."_

"_God, Sora. I'm so sorry." _

"_I want my dad back, why did he have to leave us?"_

"_I don't know babe. I don't know what to say..."_

"_I hate her so much!" _

"_You don't…you don't."_

It all came out, and Sora was helpless to stop it, but through it all, Riku was there, holding him steady as he came apart. And in the end, when he was left coughing and shaking and generally wretched, Riku was still there, arms warm and voice gentle as he wrapped them both in their cover of fur and held Sora close. He fell asleep that way, safe and warm, surrounded by the scent of water, and smoke, and Riku.

-:- -:- -:-

Waking the second time was different. His head hurt, and his chest hurt, and he generally felt like crap. But he figured it was probably a step in the right direction that he felt anything at all. Riku was still there, but no longer wrapped around him. The fire was still burning, but it was steadily dying, sending smatterings of warm light around the cave. By that light, he could see Riku moving about, collecting things and piling them neatly into a smallish hide bag.

Sora shifted, sitting up and Riku turned at the motion. The smile on his face was gentle, and Sora didn't know how to respond to it. He had opened up to Riku when he'd been awake before, and he'd gotten a lot off of his chest, but the wounds were still fresh, raw. It was like he'd been emptied out and someone had taken sand paper to all the exposed nerves on the inside. It was too much hurt for him to properly process. He just stared and hoped that nothing more was expected.

"Hey." Riku was suddenly beside him, brushing a finger down his cheek. "How are you feeling?"

Lost, the best he could offer was a shake of the head and a small shrug. This caused the smile to fall and Riku to place a hand on his shoulder, squeezing.

"I'm an idiot. I'm sorry. That was a stupid question." He turned away for a moment, and when he turned back, there was a bundle of clothes in his hands. "We need to get you dressed so that we can get out of here," Riku said. "The storm's passed for the most part so the others are probably going to be coming for us soon. We need to be in a place where they can see us."

There was the inclination to speak this time, but something held his tongue. Sora nodded, and Riku helped him dress. It didn't take long to roll up the fur cover, pack the other things inside and tie it down. Sora sat to the side watching, mind drifting from past to present, freezing at the prospect of the future. What was he going to do now? What was he supposed to do?

Riku's hand was on his elbow and Sora let himself be guided. He crawled out of the tunnel, getting his hands and knees wet as he did, but he didn't notice or didn't care. Riku came out behind him, helping him along when he needed it and letting him be otherwise. They made their way to the edge of the water, watching as debris rode in and out with the tide. Garbage, and palm leaves, and branches and…planks?

He looked up and to his left, studying the landscape in the predawn haze. There was the island with its Paopu, bent but still standing in the moonlight that was breaking through the clouds. There was the bridge that connected the little piece of land to the larger island, but where the old shack had once stood, there was nothing but wreckage. The entire structure had collapsed in on itself, unable to outlast the wind and the waves this time.

Something inside stilled. He knew that's where he'd been. He imagined himself huddled in the corner of that shack. Wood splintering and burying itself in his flesh, pinning him down as water rushed in and flooded over his head. He imagined dying, leaving all of this behind. Imagined his aunt's grief. Imagined his friends standing together at his funeral. Imagined Riku arriving at the island too late, digging through the piles of wood to find him drowned, crushed and broken. Imagined Riku never arriving at all, lost at sea, as dead and gone as Sora would have been if Riku hadn't come for him.

"Sora, look!" Riku's voice called his attention away from darker thoughts and brought his eyes to where the other boy was looking excitedly at his feet. He took a few heavy steps toward Sora and it was still dark enough for Sora to see the shimmer of light in the sand. The tears of Ho'khuo'lani had gathered at this beach. Sora had never seen them shine so brightly.

He took a few steps of his own. Watched as he trailed light where he moved, as if the sand were made of twinkling stardust. There was meaning in this, he realized. Meaning in where they were and how they'd come to be together in this place. The Seeker had found him, and now Sora's family namesake was trying to restore his light.

There was a lot between them still, Sora and Riku; things that needed to be said, resolutions that had to be reached. But that could happen later. For now, he'd accept the moment that was being offered. Sora took a few more hesitant steps, the sand glowing in his wake. The path he made led straight to Riku and before he knew what he was going to do, he found himself reaching for the other's warmth, face buried in Riku's chest as he stood there shaking.

"Thank you," he whispered, voice cracking but clear. There was so much more he wanted to say, (_You saved my life._ _You could've died! You're insane! Why did you do it?)_ but it all got stuck in his throat somewhere. "Thank you for coming after me," was all that came out.

Riku seemed to get it, though. He just held on to Sora, arms tightening as the sky lightened and he caught sight of the remains of the shelter Sora had taken. They stood there together, safe in their bubble, and Sora allowed himself to lean, really lean on another for the first time since he'd lost his parents. It was terrifying, and it hurt, but he was so tired. He didn't want to keep going on his own anymore.

They sat together on a piece of driftwood, idly playing with the shimmering sand, listening as the buzz of a distant engine grew steadily louder. They watched the silhouette of the main island, waiting for the boat to appear.

"I'm gonna need your help, Riku," Sora said, getting the request out before they were both pulled back into the complications of the real world. He could see a light coming around the island in the distance. "I…I don't know what I'm doing anymore. For as long as I can remember, everything's always been about her."

Riku sat in silence for a moment, eyes on the approaching vessel. "That just means it's time for everything to be about you for once." He said it as though coming to a decision, as though he were settling something for himself with the statement as well. "We're all here for you, Sora." He turned to catch Sora's gaze, eyes holding eyes intently. "We always have been. You just have to be willing to let us in."

It was such a foreign idea. It seemed strange to him that his first response to that thought was to recoil. But the sun was breaking the horizon, and light was catching on the hull of a speeding ship. He thought that he could just make out the shape of figures standing at the bow and he had to pause. This whole time, he'd been looking for his family; trying so desperately to pull his life back into something that resembled normal. Maybe, this whole time he'd been looking in the wrong place. Maybe the normal he'd been seeking had been right in front of him all along. Maybe letting others in wouldn't be so hard.

The boat came nearer, and he could make out faces now. There were voices on the wind, smiles, tears, relief. He felt something inside click; understanding fell into place as he saw the small crowd that had come here looking for him. His friends. His family. It felt like everything he'd always been looking for. It felt like home.


	23. Epilogue: Hindsight

**Standard Disclaimer:** The story is actually over…

**Notes:** Holy god! So, I was aiming for exactly two years, but if I couldn't post the story on it's birthday, at least I could do it on the U.S.'s birthday? Well that was the plan anyway. I finished it yesterday, but I wasn't by a computer for a while so… There's so much I could say about this story and the process I've gone through to get it finished. There's so much I could say about what it means to write a story that is over 200K words long and actually get it done. I learned so much and met so many wonderful people thanks to this thing…but I'm not gonna go on and on forever. I'll just say thank you to all of you who have read this and reviewed and encouraged me to keep going. It's not the greatest piece of fiction ever written, but I put a lot of myself into it and I am grateful to everyone who took the time out of their lives to take it in.

**Warnings:** …really, this is the end.

-:-finem-:-

**Life on the Blitz**

"_Hindsight, or our ability to see our past clearly, is a learning function that, when damaged ... renders us unable to look at the past to guide ourselves through the present and into the future. Without this ability, we cannot learn from our mistakes. We cannot clean up the wreckage of our actions. We are locked into a cycle of repeating the same thing over and over again, expecting different results. This is commonly known as the definition of insanity."_

--BARBARA S. COLE

**Epilogue:**

**Hindsight**

One of the earliest lessons I learned in life is that people don't care. It only took me seven years to figure out how that lesson wasn't quite right.

My first semester of high school was hard, but I'm starting to realize that a lot of it was my own fault. If I hadn't been so determined to make a martyr of myself, maybe I would have been able to listen to reason. Maybe I would have seen how messed up things were getting. I dunno… Looking back on it now, I have a hard time understanding _what_ I was thinking.

It hasn't been that long since everything came to a head and my world fell apart, but since then, I've had a lot of time to think about what happened. A lot of time to look at everything that contributed to those few months of hell and I realize that what they say is true. Hindsight really is twenty-twenty.

I'd been lying to myself from the start. Even before school began, before Blitz Camp, from the moment I'd found out that Rin was going to accept that job on the mainland, I'd been scared. That's the simple truth, and I'd let my fear affect every decision I made from that point on.

I think I'd known for a while that it would happen. It only made sense. Rinoa wouldn't put her life on hold indefinitely, there was only so much that I could expect from her in the long run. But there was a lot about that situation that I chose to ignore. I was looking for a let-down, so I never even realized what the sacrifices she'd already made really meant in the grand scheme of things.

God, you can't get more-self involved than that. I had it stuck in my head that Rin would always be looking out for herself first. She'd taken me into her home, changed her entire life for me, and I still thought that she was going to kick me to the sidelines at her earliest convenience. The fact that she let me stay behind was all the validation I needed. Yes, I'd told her over and over again that I would be fine. Yes, I pretty much refused to move away from my mother. Yes, I'd made it seem like leaving me on my own was a perfectly rational decision…but she should have tried harder. That's what I told myself. If she really cared—if she didn't secretly _want_ to leave me behind—she would have tried harder.

I guess I share more with my mother than I would have thought. I really wasn't all that clear in the head when all of that was happening. It's justified I guess with all the crazy turns my life had taken, but that doesn't change the truth of it. I just wasn't thinking straight for a long time. It's no wonder Riku responded to me the way he did when we first met. He saw through me completely before I ever realized that there was anything to see through. I mean, don't get me wrong, he was still an ass, but as usual, there was more to it than that. We were kind of weird reflections of each other, me with my denial, him with his rejection of people. We were both hiding from the same thing in different ways, and we hated the elements of ourselves that we saw in each other. It's a miracle that we managed to get past that at all.

I feel like I should thank Bickson for that. Not like we've heard much from him since the crazy court thing was taken care of, but in a strange way, he's the reason that everything came together the way it did. Of everyone involved in what happened during those months, I think I probably learned the most from him. He taught me that things aren't always as they seem, that good things can come out of bad situations, and that even the biggest assholes have feeling, just like everyone else.

He came forward in the end, told all of the proper authorities that his father was a liar, and everything came out after that. The case was dropped and Riku was off the hook. Seems too easy, right? My best guess is that life was just cutting me some slack finally. I don't think I could have gotten through the court stuff on top of everything else and kept my sanity intact. Rin and I heard from Detective Maza a few days after it happened and she told us that we had nothing to worry about from the Bicksons anymore. She even invited us to press charges if we wanted to. After all that had happened, I just hung up on her. Rude, yeah, but I get the feeling she probably didn't mind.

Man, I remember meeting Trav at the beginning of the year, back when he was just a bully. Who would've known he'd become such a huge part of my life by the end of the semester. I don't think anyone could've called that one, but I think that the thing with him was a lot like the thing with Riku. He saw through me, and he hated what he saw. Or maybe he saw everything that I was taking for granted and hated me for that. Who knows? Despite the fact that he was one of the biggest influences on my life, that "talk" we had on the day he kicked my ass is the longest conversation I ever had with him, and yes, I do remember that. It took a couple of months, and I still don't have all the gory details, but I do remember the day for the most part, and as embarrassing as it is, I'm so glad that Riku came to save my ass. I really think that Bickson had gone completely nuts. He could have very easily killed me.

I feel bad for him. From what Meg says, he wasn't always so pissed at the world, but with a father like his, it's no shock that Bickson turned out the way that he did. Like me, Blitzball was the only real outlet he had, and his father had influence even there. That's something else that came out by the way. Coach Clayton apparently got the job at Paopuan National because of none other than Clarence Bickson. I don't know the details, I just know that Clayton won't be coaching in the fall and there are rumors going around that Tidus' dad might be looking into the position. The last I heard about Bickson, he was working on his own emancipation and making plans to move away from Destiny. That was months ago. Wherever he ended up, I hope he can get his life together, and I hope his mother is safe.

It's crazy how if all comes down to our mothers. For me, for Riku, for Bickson. We all were struggling with the same pain. It's strange how different circumstances decided how we each responded to the situation. Riku and I are lucky to have the support that we have. I'll never take that for granted again.

"Sora! Where are you? We're gonna be late!"

"I'll be right down, Rin!"

I love this room, the one in the tower of the Loire Summer home. It's our home now, me and Rin and Leon and Cloud. I'm still not sure how that happened, but I'm glad it did. It's nice to live in a place full of people again. Tonight, we're all going to Wakka's victory celebration. He did his trial last week and blew several of the team sponsors away, the only sophomore to be selected out of all the participants. He'll be getting professional training from here on out. In two years, he'll be playing minor league making his way to the majors. He'll be able to go to the college of his choice doing something that he loves, and doing it for a living. I can only hope to be so lucky when my turn comes around.

For now, I've still got a lot of thinking to do. Four months have gone by, but that's definitely not enough time to completely rewrite my purpose in life. I'd been so single-minded for so long. It's harder to let go than I thought it would be.

"How long are you going to keep staring at it, Sora?"

I didn't even hear Riku come up the stairs, but there he is, skin glowing in the light of the setting sun from the windows all around us. I'd spaced out again. How long ago had Rinoa called me down?

"Rin send you up here to drag me away?"

He smiles, stepping forward to look at the picture with me. "Just following orders. Now that she's working with my dad, it's like I've become one of her employees."

"Hey, it's only temporary, remember?"

"Right. We just have to wait until you graduate. When's that happening, again?"

"Three years."

Riku gives a dramatic, long-suffering sigh and I can't help but laugh. He's been amazing through everything, seems to really be in tune with what I need most of the time. We've had our rough spots, but we work through them, and I think we're actually moving towards something that could be lasting if we play it right. We're not officially together, decided that with everything that happened, we both needed to take a step back, but he's still been a constant part of my life and I don't know what I would have done without him.

"C'mon, Sora." He takes my hand and pulls gently guiding me to the stair well. "It's not going anywhere. Everyone's waiting."

I don't know why I kept coming up to stare at the thing and getting stuck. It's crude at best. Simple in nature, childish…but it means so much. It's the only proof I have, and there are days when I need that. Proof that she knew me; proof that she loved me.

It's ironic really. She was the one person who I thought would care about me above all else despite the fact that she was the one who had abandoned me to begin with. I guess it shouldn't have been so shocking that she abandoned me worst of all in the end. More ironic is the fact that even in death, there is part of me that keeps trying to cling to her; keeps trying to force her to fit into the mold of 'mother' that still exists in my head.

I guess that's part of the reason that I saved this painting. There had been several canvases to go through and we donated them all to be primed over and given to other painters at the center, but this one alone I'd saved. I guess for me it represented everything that I had lost. Two parents with the tiny figure between them. It was the dream of a family that I'd once had. But it had always been nothing more than that; a dream, a fantasy, grounded in nothing beyond wishful thinking. Like the painting, it had been simplistic, immature. And now it's gone.

I don't think I miss it thought. I don't think it was healthy and now that I've been forced away from it, I'm grateful. The world beyond that dream is so much richer than anything I had imagined, but I kept the painting as a reminder. Only now, I keep coming back to it. I find myself studying it and wondering at the dull ache I get from remembering that dream.

"Sorry," I tell him, tearing my eyes away from the tiny brown spikes against that green, green backdrop. "You know how I get."

He smiles and cuffs me on the head gently, but I see the understanding in his eyes. I know that one day, I won't feel this panic as I move to leave the room, but for now I turn my back on the painting and allow Riku to guide me away.


End file.
